Pretty Little Liars MFB Style
by GhostFairy
Summary: Four girls: Sophie, Madoka, Mei Mei, and Hikaru. All former friends, each with their own secrets. But now someone knows those secrets and a ghost from their past may be coming back to haunt them...
1. Chapter 1

**So this is basically a Pretty Little Liars version of MFB, but it's going to have a lot of changes. The concept is similar, but it's not going to be the exact same thing as the books or show. Just a heads up, the characters are probably a bit OOC. It was hard to perfectly match their personalities in this. Also, there are some seriously weird pairings so be warned! Just go with it for now. Most shippings will probably change though. I hope you like it!**

**I do not own Metal Fight Beyblade or Pretty Little Liars. **

* * *

In a dark alley, a girl with long blond hair and brown eyes peered out from a door. She was wearing a tight uniform, standard for all the workers at the popular 21 and over nightclub known as Masquerade.

The uniform was a short red skirt with a backless halter that laced in the back. There was a chunky white belt around her midriff. On her face, she had a black mask with red and white swirls. She wore black strappy heels and thigh high white stockings. Normally, she wouldn't wear something that skanky, but it was for work. And she needed the job. Badly.

When she was sure nobody was looking, she raced out the door and into the night. The girl went straight to the nearest coffee shop and into the bathroom.

She lifted her hair off her head, revealing that it was a wig. Pale blue hair cascaded down her shoulders in waves. She removed brown colored eye contacts. Vivid green eyes stared back at her.

The girl changed out of her short uniform and into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. From there, she left the coffee shop and got into a fancy sports car and drove home.

The next morning, the girl woke up and headed to school, where she was greeted by her friends who were waiting in the courtyard.

"Hey, Sophie," one of her friends said.

Sophie was the perfect, popular, undisputed queen of Crystal High School. But she was hiding a dark secret. A secret she thought nobody else knew.

It turned out, she was wrong. So very wrong.

Her phone buzzed. Sophie took it out and owned the new text. It was from a restricted number.

Hey, girl. Long time no see, huh? How's that job going?

~S

Sophie's blood ran cold. Who...? How could somebody know about that? Nobody knew about her job. And who was S? Something did not seem right...

One person with an "S" name stood out clearly in her mind. It was impossible though. There was no way it could be them.

At least she hoped.

At that exact moment, a girl walked past her. Madoka Amano. She and Madoka had been friends before, but a few years ago, Sophie and her friends had parted ways. Madoka had been super nice, but none of the girls could stand to be near each other after what happened back in seventh grade. Now in eleventh grade, the girls still no longer talked.

The other two girls Sophie had been friends with back in seventh grade were Mei Mei and Hikaru. Both girls had pretty much vanished into school oblivion after the friendship had broken apart. In fact, Sophie was really the only one who had retained any of her popularity. Madoka had vanished off the radar as well.

Speaking of, Madoka was looking at Sophie as Sophie was thinking. Something about the way Madoka was looking at her made Sophie uneasy. Could Madoka be the one who...?

Sophie pushed the thought out of her mind. It just wasn't possible.

* * *

Madoka looked at her phone. The text she had received five minutes ago still glowed on the screen. The text from a restricted number that had turned her whole morning upside down. Madoka looked down and read it once more.

Nice to see you're branching out from before. Still can't believe you did that Saturday night, though.

~S

Saturday night... Madoka hated what had happened that night. She hadn't meant for it to happen. But with all the chaos and fun, she got completely caught up. If one person knew, did that mean more people knew? More importantly, who was "S"?

Madoka had a vague idea. But that was impossible. Maybe "S" was someone else, like... Sophie. Sophie was popular and had been at that party. There was a chance she knew what had happened.

When Madoka looked over, Sophie was looking at her phone. Then, Sophie looked directly at her.

Sophie looked almost scared. She looked away quickly. That was weird.

Just because she was acting weird didn't mean it was her though. Lots of people had been at the party. It could be anyone. Besides it wasn't like they had any proof, right?

The fact that "S" seemed to know who she was really bothered Madoka. It didn't seem like a random person who thought it would be funny. It seemed more like...someone from the past. Mei Mei or Hikaru? Madoka doubted it. They probably weren't even at the party.

She could just be over thinking the situation. Maybe someone was jealous about her relationship with her boyfriend. Madoka mulled this over and became lost in her thoughts.

"Hey, beautiful." Hands covered Madoka's eyes.

Madoka lifted the hands, turned around, and saw her boyfriend of two months, Tsubasa Otori.

Madoka looked at him and just wished she could take back everything that had happened on Saturday.

Tsubasa was everything she could ever want in a boyfriend. Kind, loving, cute, perfect. She could never compare to him. But for some reason, he adored her and for that, she was happy.

As she walked away to class with Tsubasa, Madoka did her best to forget about the text.

* * *

She knew she had a problem, but she couldn't help it. It wasn't like she wanted to do it, it just happened. She could be completely normal, but the second something set her off, it happened. She had been doing it for years and never gotten caught. But now somebody knew. She was so dead.

Hey! How's that little "problem" going? Still borrowing things?

~S

Mei Mei shut her phone angrily. How could something like this even happen? There was only one person who knew. Someone who was long gone.

Mei Mei saw Sophie walking into the building with her friends. Was it possible that Sophie knew? It didn't make sense. Mei Mei thought for a minute. The only other people who had a chance of knowing her secret, and a very slim chance at that, would be Madoka and Hikaru. But why would they bring that up now?

Mei Mei hoped it wasn't any of those three. Because that would mean she had been betrayed so many years ago...

Mei Mei met up with her friends, Da Shan and Chao Xin. Maybe Chao Xin had sent the text. It would be just like him. But there was no way he could know about her "borrowing" problem.

Whoever this person was, they were going to regret messing with her. She would find them.

Mei Mei looked over at Hikaru and Madoka. Madoka was with her boyfriend, Tsubasa. Hikaru was looking nervously at her phone. Neither of them seemed like they had anything to hide. They probably hadn't sent the text.

At that moment, Hikaru looked at Mei Mei. They stared at each other for a minute, then Hikaru looked away. Strange.

Mei Mei walked off the courtyard and into the school. Her phone vibrated. To her relief, it was just from one of her friends. Hopefully the whole thing would just blow over.

* * *

Hikaru shut her eyes then looked at her phone one more time.

The text bothered her, sure, but the picture that was attached was the real problem.

Sup? Never thought you'd be the one to hook up with an older man, Hikaru.

~S

Right above the words was a picture of Hikaru and her boss, Ryo Hagane. Kissing.

Hikaru turned her phone off, shaking. How would anybody know about that? It was a total secret. And even more importantly, how would someone even get a picture? Creepy.

If anyone else ever saw that picture, she was going to be in deep trouble. She had to find out who sent it and stop them from telling anybody. But who was "S"?

A possibility ran through her mind, but she pushed it away. It definitely wasn't that person. It was probably somebody else with an "S" name. Maybe Sophie. Sophie was popular and would probably love some blackmail to hang over her head. But why would Sophie choose her? Hikaru wasn't exactly popular. She couldn't gain anything from it.

So then who was it? Hikaru made a mental note to check if anyone was following her on the way to work later. She could also see if anyone was acting suspicious around her in school.

There was one thing she was sure of. She could not take any chances. Hikaru would go to work and not do anything wrong. The sender of the text could try to get more pictures to use against her, as disturbing as the idea was.

Hikaru sighed. She never should have taken that job. She should've just worked at a fast food place like everyone else.

She looked around the school, scanning the area. Hikaru locked eyes with Mei Mei, who looked pissed. Mei Mei had been one of her friends in the past. Maybe she knew something about this?

Hikaru started to walk towards Her, but by the time she got there, Mei Mei was already gone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for the reviews! Oh, and to the person who reviewed as Madoka, I tried to answer your question in this chapter. Thanks for reading everyone!**

**I do not own Metal Fight Beyblade or Pretty Little Liars. **

* * *

Sophie was sitting in her English class when one of her friends passed her a note. The friend pointed at Madoka, then rolled her eyes. What would Madoka want with her?

Sophie opened up the note. A simple sentence was written in the middle.

Meet me in the courtyard after school.

Sophie folded the note back up. Madoka was looking at her.

Sophie remembered the text she had received in the morning. She didn't know what Madoka wanted, but this would be the perfect time to find out if she knew anything about that text.

Sophie nodded slightly at Madoka. Madoka looked away, satisfied.

For the rest of the day, Sophie was completely paranoid each time her phone buzzed. It was never"S" again, though. In a way, that almost made it worse. Sophie was expecting another text.

But it never came. And when it was time to meet up with Madoka, Sophie was much more relaxed. She waited for Madoka in the courtyard as soon as school ended as she had been instructed.

Sophie hoped this meeting wouldn't take long. She had a ton of homework and work later on.

* * *

Madoka was happy that Sophie had accepted the invitation to meet up with her after school. She had figured Sophie would just ignore it. At any rate, she would be able to find out if it was Sophie who had sent the text earlier.

Madoka wasn't sure what she would do if it was Sophie. Maybe she could convince her not to tell anyone. If not, she was screwed.

But if it wasn't Sophie...

Madoka went to the courtyard and found Sophie already waiting for her.

"Did you send this text?" Madoka asked, showing Sophie her phone.

Sophie's eyebrows knit in confusion. "No...," Suddenly her eyes grew wide when she finished reading the text.

"What?" Madoka asked. She really hoped Sophie wouldn't ask what had happened Saturday night. Instead, Sophie caught her completely off guard with a question.

"You got a text from someone named 'S', too?" Sophie gasped.

"Wait, what?"

"I received one first thing this morning, about um... A secret of mine. The style of the writing was exactly the same!"

"No way. I was almost completely convinced you had sent this."

"I would never do something like that! But I thought that maybe you sent it... If you didn't, then who did?"

"I thought Mei Mei or Hikaru..."

"Same here. I guess we should ask them if they have any idea what's going on."

"You don't think it could be...," Madoka's words trailed off.

"No. Absolutely not. That's impossible," Sophie said firmly. The girls parted ways.

Madoka couldn't help but wonder what kind of secret someone as perfect as Sophie could be hiding.

* * *

Sophie finished her homework, just in time to get ready for work.

As she put on her disguise and drove off, she couldn't help but wonder if "S" really was her. Their old friend. Sophie shook her head. She was being paranoid. "S" was probably just Mei Mei or Hikaru being stupid. One of them probably got sick of being invisible and decided to send the texts to Madoka and Sophie to get back at them for what had happened in the past. But none of that was either Sophie or Madoka's fault.

Sophie entered the back door of Masquerade. Here, she was known as Liza Whittaker, college junior at the local university. Nobody suspected she was actually a high school student.

Sophie had initially taken the job a few months ago because it paid well. To her surprise, she genuinely liked it. Of course, she always had to deal with completely wasted idiots, but after a while she just got used it.

Sophie really hoped that she could figure out who "S" was. Then she could stop them from telling anyone before things got too out of hand. She desperately needed the money that came with the job.

Sophie stepped out of the kitchen with a plate of food and stopped dead in her tracks. A group of kids from her school had just entered the club.

Sophie was used to seeing people from her school come into the club even though it was 21 and over. Everyone faked their IDs.

However, Sophie had recently been bumped up from cleaning tables to waitressing and this was the first time she would actually interact with the other kids. Sophie knew she looked completely different, but she was still afraid that they would recognize her voice.

Nervous, Sophie walked over to the group. Even with the masks the club gave to everyone who entered, she could still tell who they were.

The one on the far right was Gingka Hagane. Next to him was Kyoya Tategami, Tsubasa Otori, and Madoka. Sophie collected her thoughts and started to take orders.

Seeing Madoka there made Sophie extra nervous. What if she suspected something? Madoka was the smart one. She would totally be the one to see through her disguise.

When they finally left, Sophie breathed a sigh of relief. Her secret was still safe.

* * *

Hikaru dropped her job. But before she left, she had hacked into the computer and erased any traces that she had ever been there, let alone worked there. Any existence of her was removed.

Hikaru took one last look at the building. She would never return.

Still, she needed to find out who had sent the text. Not knowing what to, Hikaru went to the mall.

In one of the stores, she ran into Mei Mei while looking at shoes.

"Doesn't really seem like she's gone," Mei Mei commented, admiring a pair of flats. Hikaru nodded. "And with the text I got-" Mei Mei abruptly stopped talking.

Hikaru's head shot up. "Wait, what text?"

Mei Mei shifted uncomfortably. "It's nothing, really. Just a weird message I got this morning."

Hikaru's heart started to beat faster. "Was it from 'S'?"

Mei Mei's jaw dropped. "How did you know?"

"I got one, too."

The girls sat in silence.

"It can't be her. Sophie?" Mei Mei whispered.

"Has to be," Hikaru agreed.

"We'll ask her about it tomorrow."

Hikaru said goodbye and walked out of the store. If Mei Mei had gotten a text, too, did that mean the others also did? Or was it just them?

Either way, she would have her answer tomorrow.

* * *

So she wasn't the only one getting texts. Mei Mei was uneasy. If Hikaru was getting them, then maybe Sophie and Madoka were getting them, too, then there was even less of a chance that one of them had sent the message.

Mei Mei looked at one of the scarfs hanging on a nearby rack. Impulsively, she grabbed it and stuffed it in her bag.

Then she raced to the bathroom and hid in a stall. She spent a few minutes trying to get off the security tag. Normally, she could get it off, but today she was shaking too badly.

After failing, she put the scarf back on the rack.

Mei Mei went over to the jewelry and looked at the necklaces. When she was sure no one was looking, she dropped one into her bag. It didn't have a tag. An easier thing to take. No one would notice it was missing. Then she booked it out of the mall.

Mei Mei hated shoplifting in general. The fact that she did it made it even worse. She hadn't planned on taking anything today. She never did. But the conversation with Hikaru had set off her "borrowing" problem.

As soon as she got home, Mei Mei threw the necklace under her bed with the rest of the things she had taken in the past.

Right now was probably the worst time to take something. Someone knew. And they could tell. Mei Mei couldn't risk doing that again. She wouldn't do any more shoplifting. Ever.

* * *

When Hikaru arrived at school the next day, she saw Sophie and Madoka talking. It was strange, considering she didn't think any of them talked anymore.

Hikaru saw Mei Mei, who nodded at her. They both walked over to Sophie and Madoka.

"Hi," Madoka said. "We need to ask you something."

"That's funny," Mei Mei commented. "So do we."

"Okay," Madoka seemed slightly surprised. "Um, has anything weird happened to you guys lately? Like strange messages or something?"

"From 'S'?" Hikaru gasped.

Sophie's eyes widened. "Yes... So it's not either of you?"

"No. We thought it was you," Mei Mei whispered.

Sophie folded her arms. "Why does everyone blame me?" Hikaru smiled apologetically.

"Do you guys think it's her?" Madoka asked.

"I already told you, Madoka. It's not her. Selen is dead," Sophie said harshly.

"Missing," Mei Mei amended quietly.

"She may as well be dead," Sophie said impatiently. "The night she disappeared, the police found traces of blood all over the woods. And a few weeks later, they found the body of a young girl in the lake. It had to be Selen. She is dead and never coming back."

"There's no proof that it was her body," Hikaru countered softly.

"And there's no proof that it wasn't."

At that moment, all four of their phones vibrated, causing them to jump.

Dead girls don't stay dead. Something always brings them back. And I haven't forgotten anything.

~S


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry this chapter is kind of short. I had no ideas for it. I'm in study hall right now cause I have no time to post this so I don't know when the next update will be. I apologize for any mistakes in here. And does anyone know if Sophie and Mei Mei have last names? I couldn't find any so I had to make them up. **

**Thanks for all the reviews and support!**

**I do not own Metal Fight Beyblade or Pretty Little Liars. **

* * *

Selen could not be back. She just couldn't. Unlike Sophie, Hikaru was convinced Selen was still alive. But there was still no proof that Selen was the one sending the texts. Just because she wasn't dead, it didn't mean she was sending them.

How "S" was getting the information was a mystery. Maybe she was wrong, but Hikaru felt as though she would know if someone was watching her.

But then, she'd been wrong before.

The whole thing just wasn't fair. Why should she and the rest of girls have to deal with this? It was bad enough when Selen disappeared. Now they had to deal with the possibility she was back. Even if she wasn't, it was still messed up for someone to try and screw up their lives again.

Whoever "S" was, they were seriously going to pay for all this.

Hikaru pushed the thoughts out of her mind and walked into one of the hallways. Strangely, it was empty. She opened her locker. Its contents came crashing out.

A small piece of paper fluttered out and landed gently on top of the pile of books.

Hikaru picked up the paper and flipped it over. A picture of her and Ryo. Of course.

She crumpled up the picture quickly and shoved it in her bag. "S" just wasn't going to quit. Then, she returned everything to her locker and walked off to class.

Behind her, Hikaru could have sworn she heard soft laughter.

* * *

This was not happening. Inside her locker, Madoka had found a picture with a note attached.

The picture was from "that night". The one she wanted to erase forever. The letter attached was just as bad as the picture.

Want this to go viral? Didn't think so. Unlike last time, I'm not planning on keeping it secret. So if I were you, I'd do as I say. Consequences will not be pretty.

~S

It didn't sound good. Whatever "S" had planned, it was real bad. What would she be doing? Madoka didn't want to know.

Madoka wasn't entirely sure if she believed Selen was the one writing the messages. It couldn't be possible, but then again... She wished she was as sure as Sophie was about this.

Madoka ripped up the picture and tossed the pieces in the trash. There was no way any one would get a chance to see that.

"Are you okay?" Mei Mei came up to her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just this whole thing," Madoka realized she was shaking.

"Same...," Mei Mei trailed off. "You don't have to tell me what it is, but is your secret really bad? Like, it could ruin you bad?"

Madoka nodded. "I'm not really proud of it. I mean, I guess it would blow over eventually, but it still wouldn't be good if people found out."

"Mine's kind of yours in that way. Except, I think it would really kill me. Forever. There would be no taking it back."

The girls talked for a few minutes then headed off to their respective classes.

Madoka's phone buzzed.

Your first task from me? Go kiss Kyoya. Again. Otherwise, Tsubasa will be the first to see what you did at that party.

~S

* * *

She held the picture in her shaking hands. The picture was absolutely horrible.

After talking to Madoka, Mei Mei had gone straight to her locker. The minute she opened it, she wished she had just gone to class and kept her extra books with her.

The picture was from a few days ago, when she had last gone shopping. It was of Mei Mei dropping the necklace she had taken into her bag. Her expression as she was taking it looked extremely guilty. Not good.

"Hey," a voice behind Mei Mei said.

She shrieked and dropped the incriminating picture. Mei Mei scrambled to the ground to grab it.

Dashan picked up the picture before she could get it. Mei Mei closed her eyes, expecting the worst. She was doomed.

Much to her surprise and relief, Dashan handed her the picture without looking at it.

"Thanks," Mei Mei said breathlessly.

"You're welcome. Hey, Mei Mei. Are you doing anything this Friday?" Dashan asked.

"Um, not really sure," Mei Mei responded.

"Well if you're not doing anything, do you maybe want to hang out together?"

"That sounds like fun," Mei Mei smiled.

"Okay, cool," Dashan walked away.

Mei Mei tossed the picture in her bag. While walking to class, her phone went off. Without thinking, she opened it.

Think he'd still like you that much if he knew you were a thief?

~S

* * *

"Will Sophie Lefebvre, Madoka Amano, Hikaru Hasama, and Mei Mei Xū please come to the principal's office," the loudspeaker blared.

Madoka, who was in class with Sophie, looked at her uneasily. The two left class and walked Into the hall where they met up with Hikaru and Mei Mei.

Simultaneously, their phones went off.

If you tell, I tell.

~S

"Weird," Mei Mei breathed.

"What do you think all this is about?" Hikaru asked.

"Whatever it is, it can't be good," Sophie answered grimly. Madoka remained silent.

The girls arrived at the office and the secretary let them in. Each took a seat and waited. A few minutes later, the principal came into the room with a cop. The principal left, leaving the girls alone with the officer.

"Hello, girls. I'm sure you're wondering why you're all here," the cop said. Mei Mei stiffened.

"Is it that obvious?" Sophie muttered quietly enough so that only the girls could hear her.

"I'm Officer Jazzman. I'm here with news concerning your friend, Selen."

The girls all looked at each other.

"What about her?" Sophie finally asked.

"New information about the body found drowned in the lake a few weeks after Selen's disappearance was recently discovered. An anonymous tip led us to exhume the body. After an examination, results showed that the body was not of Selen, but of another girl who had been kidnapped a few towns over around the same time Selen vanished. It wasn't Selen's body we found."


	4. Chapter 4

**Yeah... Sorry about that unplanned break. Dreamlily and Song Of Hope, thanks for your reviews!**

**I don't own Metal Fight Beyblade or Pretty Little Liars. **

* * *

"I'm sorry, what? Are you saying Selen is still alive?" Sophie asked, clearly shocked but attempting to maintain her composure.

"There's still no proof. Selen may still be dead, but now there's no way to truly know. She could be somewhere else. However, we do know she's definitely not here," Officer Jazzman explained.

"Oh... So why are you telling us this?" Hikaru asked, easily the least shocked of the four.

"We need to go over everything that happened that night with each of you again."

"But why?" Madoka asked. "We already explained everything before."

"We're aware, but with the new information, we're reinstating the investigation."

"She's still gone. What new information could there possibly be?" Mei Mei asked.

"That's what we're trying to find out. From what we have written down, Selen was last seen by you four around two-thirty in the morning on August 16 four years ago."

"Yes. What's your point?" Sophie asked, growing impatient.

"My point is that you were the last people to see Selen. What happened right up until two-thirty?"

"We were all in the woods behind Selen's house sitting around and talking," Mei Mei answered.

"And then what happened?" Officer Jazzman inquired.

"Selen thought she heard a noise and went to investigate it. After waiting for a few minutes for her to come back, we went to look for her. We found her looking terrified. There was another strange noise, a weird screech thing, and we all screamed and scattered. A little while later, we met up again at Selen's house, but she wasn't there. We waited for her, but she never showed up so we called the police," Hikaru said.

"Is that all?" Officer Jazzman asked.

"Yes," Hikaru said firmly.

"That's the exact same thing you girls said last time."

"Well nothing changed," Sophie said dryly.

Officer Jazzman gave her a look. "Just had to make sure everything matched. Is there anything else you girls remember?" All four shook their heads. "Then in that case we have some new questions for you. Why did you call the police?"

The girls all looked at each other, puzzled.

"Why wouldn't we?" Madoka asked, trying to make sense of the question. "She was gone."

"Are you sure she was gone? Our records show that you called the police around three A.M., half an hour after you last saw Selen. What made you think she was gone?"

Nobody responded.

"Only half an hour had passed. She could have come back within an hour. Some people disappear for a few hours before returning. You said she was scared of something. Maybe she was just hiding. What made you think she was gone after just half an hour?"

"I don't know," Sophie shifted uncomfortably. "We were young and we were scared. Our friend was missing. What were we supposed to do?"

"True. But you didn't go to look for her or anything?"

"No," Mei Mei said. "The noise we heard, we thought something was out there. There was no way we were going back out there. We had just made it back to the house."

"Fair enough," Officer Jazzman nodded. "Now, do you have any idea why Selen looked so scared?"

"No," Sophie said sharply. "I was the first one to reach her. She looked horrified then when we heard the noise it scared us all so much. We, well at least I, was too freaked to actually look around. I just ran for it."

"Same." All the girls nodded.

"Okay. Now when you all heard the noise was it close?"

"Definitely," Hikaru said. "The first time, only Selen heard it. Or at least she thought she heard it because none of us did. But when we met up with her later the screechy noise was right next to us. Probably only a few feet away."

"And when you were running you didn't see anything suspicious?"

"I didn't. I was way more focused on getting away from whatever had made that noise," Madoka answered. All the girls nodded their agreement.

"Alright. One more question and this one you'll recognize. What were you doing outside in the woods at two-thirty in the morning?"

"Oh, behind her house, there was this great area for talking. There were a bunch of fallen longs and we pulled them in a circle and would go out late at night to have a fire and just hang out," Mei Mei explained.

"Was there a fire the night she disappeared?"

"Yea-wait, I don't remember. I think there may have been, but I don't remember putting it out or anything," Mei Mei said.

"I don't remember either, but we wouldn't have had time to put out the fire before we went to look for Selen. She was only gone a few minutes and we thought she was coming back," Sophie added.

"That's all for now. Thank you for your cooperation girls. We'll be in touch," Officer Jazzman closed up the binder he had been looking through and left the girls alone in the principal's office.

Later on after school, the girls met up. Nearby, a guy with long punk hair passed them.

"Hey, isn't that Jack?" Sophie asked. "I thought he went to a boarding school or something."

"Me, too. I wonder why he came back," Hikaru commented.

"Wasn't he dating Selen when she disappeared?" Mei Mei suddenly remembered.

"Oh yeah. I'd completely forgotten about that," Madoka said.

Each of the girls had a vague memory of Jack. They hadn't known much about him, except what Selen had told them. That wasn't much. Jack had gone a little weird after Selen was gone. It didn't look like that had changed. What Selen had ever seen in him, no one ever knew.

Jack looked back and locked eyes with them. Something about him sent a shiver down Sophie's spine.

"I'm getting a weird feeling," Hikaru murmured.

Jack continued in his way, never stopping to talk to the girls or ask why they were looking at him so intently.

"'S'?" Madoka wondered aloud. Nobody said anything, but it was clear they were all thinking the same thing.

"It can't be a coincidence he's back, but we don't have any proof. Let's not pin this on him yet," Sophie decided. "But keep your eyes out for him. C'mon, let's go. I don't feel like being at school any longer."

"Where to?" Mei Mei asked, but she already knew the answer.

Wordlessly, the girls walked the distance to Selen's former house. The Garcias had left town shortly after Selen's disappearance. They hadn't wanted to be reminded of what had happened.

The girls took a shortcut through the woods to their old hangout spot. The logs were still arranged in a circle around the fire pit. Each girl sat on their respective log. The fifth one was left empty. Selen's.

"I can't believe-everything that just-it's insane," Madoka breathed.

"I know. With 'S' suddenly showing up and then the possibility that Selen may still be alive... This is just messed up," Sophie responded.

"Do you think we should have told Officer Jazzman about 'S'?" Mei Mei asked.

"No way. Remember the text we got right before going to see him? 'S' will tell our secret if we say anything about them," Hikaru said. As an afterthought, she added, "Besides, even if we said something to the police, they'd probably want to know what our secrets are. There's no way I could ever say mine."

"I'm with Hikaru. For now, 'S' stays a secret," Sophie said. "There's a lot we can't tell the police."

"Do you think we should have said the real reason we were outside, though?" Madoka asked.

"No," Sophie made the decision. "That doesn't have anything to do with what happened."

"Okay, then. Hey, what was up with the 'I definitely did not see what scared Selen' thing?" Hikaru asked.

Sophie sighed. "I kind of lied there. I hope it wasn't that obvious. When I found Selen, she was pointing at something in the tree. I didn't really get a clear view because as soon as I looked, whatever it was disappeared into the foliage. Then you guys all showed up and it was gone."

"So that was what made the shriek," Madoka surmised. Sophie nodded.

"Why didn't you tell the officer?" Mei Mei asked.

"When they first interrogated us, I didn't mention it because I was scared. I didn't bring it up now because I didn't want him to think I was changing my story just to protect myself."

"Well that makes sense," Madoka said. "Anything else you kept hidden?"

"No. Well, except what we were really doing that night," Sophie rolled her eyes.

"I thought this was over with," Hikaru muttered. "Selen vanished four years ago. Nobody should be bringing this up now. It's over. I'd bet money 'S' had something to do with the anonymous tip about the body. Who else honestly cares?"

"That's kind of harsh," Mei Mei commented.

"What, it's true! Face it, a year after she disappeared we were really the only ones who still cared. Selen wasn't exactly the nicest person. I bet some people were thrilled when she was gone," Hikaru snapped. "And besides, it's not like a tiny piece of us wasn't secretly happy about the fact that she couldn't dangle anything over our heads anymore! Think of everything you told her. She used every secret you had against you. Us? We knew nothing about her. And she liked it that way."

"Too true," Sophie agreed. "Just like this 'S'. Although, I'm not convinced that Selen is sending the messages. Everything I've been threatened with is more recent."

"Then we should tell the police! Come on, this is ridiculous. I've been getting pictures of me from 'S' and I hate feeling like somebody is stalking me everywhere I go," Mei Mei said.

"No!" Hikaru almost screeched. "Look, I've gotten pictures, too, but we can stop this on our own. Let's just, ignore 'S'. Maybe they'll back off. Like I said, they'll want to see the picture and I can never show those pictures to anyone."

"But we're being stalked! We have to do something!" Madoka cried.

"Listen, you guys can do whatever you want. 'S' did say that if we told, they would tell. I can't have everyone knowing about this. So if you do tell, leave me out of it," Sophie said.

The girls stared at each other for a few minutes, fuming. Finally, they all stormed off in their own directions, leaving the hangout just as empty as it had been when they first arrived. Or so they thought.

* * *

Madoka looked in the classroom And saw Kyoya, alone. It was now or never. Madoka took a deep breath and opened the door. Time to do the stupid task.

"Madoka?" Kyoya looked up, surprised.

Madoka wasted no time. She walked up to Kyoya and kissed him. The kiss grew more passionate, until Madoka broke it and went flying out the door.

Halfway down the hall, she received a text message that stopped her.

Good job. But I'm not done with you. Not by a long shot.

~S


	5. Chapter 5

**Thank you dreamlily, A. B. D. Y. Z., and madokahagane123 for reviewing!**

**I do not own Metal Fight Beyblade or Pretty Little Liars.**

* * *

Mei Mei was sprawled out on her bed, staring at the picture she had received from S.

What was she going to do? Mei Mei desperately wanted to tell someone about S, but it was basically a death sentence. Mei Mei tore up the picture and threw it in the trash.

Outside her window, Mei Mei saw Jack. He was looking directly at her. Just then, Mei Mei's computer went off, signaling an email. She went to check it.

I'm closer than you think... Careful.

~S

It was a typical message, except there were two pictures attached. The first one was another picture of Mei Mei shoplifting. She winced as this picture was even worse than the one she had just torn up.

The second picture was much more disturbing.

It had been taken moments ago, as Mei Mei had been tearing up the first photo. From the way it looked, it had to have been taken from near her window. The picture was perfectly clear, with no angle to indicate if he had been taken above or slightly below her window.

Mei Mei's was located at the front of the house. Directly across the street, there was just woods. The only way someone could have taken that picture without being noticed was if...they were in her room.

Upon realizing this Mei Mei shrieked. She looked around her room, not seeing anything. She opened her closet. Nobody was there. Except...

On the right wall of her closet, Mei Mei had a picture of herself, Sophie, Madoka, Hikaru, and Selen. Selen was in the middle. Someone had crossed out Selen's eyes and written "dead bitch" across her along with a number one. In the picture, Mei Mei had a two on her, Hikaru had a three, Madoka had a four, and Sophie had a five.

Mei Mei ran over to her window and looked out. Jack was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

"Numbers? What do you mean, Mei Mei?"

Madoka had received a call from Mei Mei about five minutes after Mei Mei had discovered the picture in her closet.

"The five of us each had a number on top of it. Selen was one, I was two, Hikaru was three, you were four, and Sophie was five!" Mei Mei said hysterically.

"What does it mean?"

"I don't know, but it can't be good! Oh, and right before I saw the picture, I got an email from S with a picture attached of me in my room!"

"Seriously?"

"Yes! We have to tell someone, Madoka, we have to."

"I don't know. I mean, I want to, but I'm afraid of what S will do then."

"Me, too, but this is just insane. And remember how we saw Jack earlier? Right before I got my email, he was standing outside my house. "

"That's weird. We have to look into this. I'll talk to you later. Bye."

"Fine. Bye," Mei Mei hung up.

Madoka sighed. This S thing was getting completely out of hand.

The numbers could mean anything, but Madoka had her suspicions. She hadn't said anything about them to Mei Mei, though. She didn't need to freak her out anymore.

Selen had the one written on her and was the first to go... So Mei Mei was probably up next. Madoka made a mental note to tell Mei Mei not to go off anywhere alone. Of course, that would probably freak out Mei Mei even more, but at least she would be aware of the possible danger.

It had been a long day. Madoka was exhausted from all the S problems. Having to kiss Kyoya, deliberately cheating on Tsubasa, and now Mei Mei's problem.

Jack... Why had he just shown up? It didn't make sense. He had to have something to do with S. The fact he had been outside Mei Mei's house when she received the email just intensified that theory.

Madoka saw Hikaru outside her house and went out to go talk to her.

"I've been thinking, do you think we should tell about S? Every time I think about it, my head says no, but the more I think, the more I realize maybe we should," Hikaru shifted uncomfortably.

"I'm beginning to think we probably need to keep it a secret," Madoka explained what Mei Mei had just discovered.

Hikaru nodded gravely. "Then we have to keep it a secret. Otherwise, we'll end up Selen."

"And who knows what happened to her...," Madoka trailed off. Suddenly her phone began to ring. Instinctively Madoka began to brace herself. However, she relaxed when she realized who the caller was. "It's just Officer Jazzman."

"See what he wants."

"Hello?" Madoka answered.

"Madoka? One question real quick. Did Selen have any known enemies? Someone who would want her gone?" Officer Jazzman said from the other end of the line.

"Um, no one I can really think of. Let me ask Hikaru, she's with me-," Hikaru shook her head, "-She can't think of anyone either. But Selen wasn't exactly the nicest girl. She looked down on a lot of people."

"Okay, that's all we need to know. Thank you," the detective hung up.

"Wonder what that was about. Trying to find suspects?" Hikaru commented.

A strong wind blew suddenly, sending a piece of paper through the air. It landed at the girls' feet. Hikaru picked it up. She looked at the picture, confused then worried, and handed it to Madoka.

The piece of paper was in fact a picture of Madoka kissing Kyoya earlier that day.

* * *

Sophie had received a call from Madoka moments ago about some crazy picture Mei Mei found with numbers on it.

It didn't really bother her. S was no doubt just trying to get them all hyped up. There wasn't a real threat, although a nagging thought in her head told her otherwise.

Sophie was typing up an English paper when her computer started to act weird. A strange program popped up on screen.

There was a picture of her as Liza. Slowly, the picture began to change. Liza's hair changed from blond to blue and waved out slightly. The brown eyes were replaced with Sophie's.

Then her computer blacked out and when it turned back on, the program was gone. Sophie searched for it on her computer for a few minutes, but found nothing. According to her computer, it had never existed.

Clearly, S had sent that. Sophie wasn't sure what S was trying to prove, though. Yes, features were similar between her and Liza, but unless other people knew that she was also Liza, which they didn't, no one would think twice about it. Besides, it was just computer generated, not hardcore actual proof that Sophie was Liza. People would never believe it. Why use it as a threat?

This just proved Sophie's point. S was just someone who thought they could try and get revenge for what Selen had done to them in the past. They were just using things that didn't even prove their point completely. S had nothing on her.

Just then, Sophie's computer went off, signaling an email. Sender unknown. She opened it.

Who said I had nothing on you?

~S

Right below, there was a picture of Sophie putting on her Liza wig. The wig was on the bathroom counter and Sophie was putting her blue hair up so it could be hidden beneath the wig.

Then there was another picture. It was of a face. One side of the face was Sophie's. The other side was Liza's.

When put together, the two pictures helped solidify the idea that Sophie and Liza were the one and the same.

Not good.

* * *

Hikaru was shocked when she saw the picture of Madoka and Kyoya, to say the least. She hadn't thought Madoka was like that. Once Madoka had explained that S had forced her to do it so that her secret would stay safe, Hikaru understood completely.

Unfortunately, this made Hikaru realize that should could get blackmailed by S at any point as well. She had already received another picture that day, taped on the door of her house. She ripped it off, hopefully before anyone had had the chance to see it.

As if on cue, Hikaru's phone went off.

You know, Selen isn't really that far away. There a lots of places for a little girl to get locked up. Especially if she was abandoned by her friends. The truth about that night is right under your nose.

~S

For once, there was no picture attached, nothing threatening. It was almost as if... S wanted her to find Selen. The message specifically said Selen. Did that mean S was admitting they weren't Selen?

The whole thing didn't make sense. The way the message was written definitely indicated that Selen had been kidnapped that night so long ago. It also hinted that she may still be alive, which had been Hikaru's opinion anyway.

The truth about that night, what did that even mean? Hikaru had been there. She knew what had happened.

Or did she? A lot had happened that night. Sophie probably knew more. After all, she had been the first to reach Selen once they had split up. Sophie could be hiding something.

Madoka and Mei Mei could be keeping secrets about that night as well. They had all gotten separated. When it came right down to it, who really knew what happened that night? Maybe S had a point.

So if Selen was captured, then where was she?

Hikaru's phone went off again.

That Prank.

~S

* * *

She had to tell somebody. Mei Mei was a nervous wreck. S had been in her room. S was out to ruin their lives. Then there was the whole thing with the numbered picture. Mei Mei had to do something. She couldn't just sit around and do nothing.

But if she told...

Mei Mei shook her head. It didn't matter. She would do whatever she could to end this.

But who would she tell? The police were out of the question, especially since the others would be dragged into it and they had explicitly told her they wanted nobody to know anything about their involvement with S. Then again, the police might be the only ones who could actually do something about this.

Mei Mei was stuck. She could always tell one her friends...

Dashan. Perfect.


	6. Chapter 6

**Thanks for all the reviews everyone! That's the most review a chapter has ever gotten for a chapter and I'm glad everyone likes the story. Updates are going to be between one and two weeks, which is what they've been anyway. I'm just going to go over each of the characters now so if you want to, skip it and start reading the new chapter. **

**Sophie-works at a club known as Masquerade, pretty, popular, doesn't believe S is too much of a threat at the moment**

**Madoka-dating Tsubasa, forced to kiss Kyoya by S to protect her secret, doesn't want to tell anyone who isn't already involved about S**

**Mei Mei-shoplifts, desperately afraid of getting caught, fearful of S, wants to tell someone about what is going on**

**Hikaru-had a relationship with Ryo that she cut off immediately when S showed up, does not believe Selen is dead, against telling anyone about S**

**I do not own Metal Fight Beyblade or Pretty Little Liars.**

* * *

That Prank... Hikaru thought for a minute. Multiple pranks came to mind. Then it hit her.

One of their pranks had gone slightly awry. Selen had wanted to get revenge on a specific ex-boyfriend who had done the unthinkable. Zeo Abyss.

Selen didn't really have boyfriends. She had guys she dated and used up then tossed them aside when she was bored with them. That was how she worked. The same thing happened with every "boyfriend" of Selen's. Except one. Zeo made an unprecedented mistake. Zeo broke up with Selen.

No one else had ever done that before. The news that Selen had been dumped spread through the school like wildfire. Selen was furious. By the time Selen was placated, she had completely destroyed Zeo's reputation and ruined his social life. As a result, he had to switch schools.

Needless to say, no one had dumped Selen after that.

The prank S had to be referring to was the one that had finally driven Zeo out. By that point, Selen had already ruined his social standing. She wasn't finished with him, though. Hikaru's mind drifted off to the night of the prank...

For Selen alone, the prank would have been harder to carry out. But Selen had had help from her four closest friends. The girls sneaked into Zeo's house. They went into his room. Then, Sophie wrote in blood red paint on Zeo's wall, "I'm coming for you". Hikaru had covered her hands in the paint and put handprints all over the room. Mei Mei's job had been to set up a tape recorder in the closet. Earlier, the girls had recorded themselves screaming on it. The tape recorder was set to go off at random intervals.

Selen's job was keeping watch. She had also managed to acquire a cockroach, which would be set free in Zeo's room once they were finished. Unfortunately, when Selen went to release the bug in Zeo's room, there were a lot more than one cockroach in the box she had been keeping the bug in. Selen shrieked, dropping the box, letting loose at least a dozen cockroaches in the room.

At that moment, the girls heard the front door open. Not wasting any time, they ran out of Zeo's room and out the back door, where they had entered.

From inside the house, the five girls heard screams, no doubt from the discovery of the cockroaches. The girls ran, hoping to avoid being seen. A police car drove past them, and Selen pulled the others into one of the nearby abandoned warehouses...

Thinking it over, Hikaru realized that the warehouses would have been a great place for someone to hide a kidnapped victim. They hadn't been used in years. Nobody would have bothered to look there.

As soon as she got the chance, Hikaru would search the warehouses for any sign that Selen had ever been there.

* * *

Her life was spinning completely out of control. A few weeks ago, Madoka's life was near perfect and going just the way she want it to. Before S, she had a clear future. Now, Madoka didn't even know what tomorrow would bring.

Her life had split itself into two distinct sections. Before S and During S. Madoka could only hope After S would be coming soon.

Hikaru knew that she had kissed Kyoya. At least Hikaru understood that S had made her do it. Hikaru didn't know what had happened at the party just before S had appeared. If Madoka had her way, she and everyone else would never know. But if S had their way...

Everyone would know what Madoka had done at that party.

As if knowing what Madoka was thinking about, her phone vibrated.

**Oh, yes. Like I said, I am not done with you. Now go kiss Gingka! Remember, if you don't, I tell all!**

**~S**

Madoka groaned. Another kissing dare? S could at least have some originality. What were they going to do anyway? Have her kiss half the school and then show Tsubasa the pictures?

The dare could have been worse, though. She'd already had to kiss Kyoya, what did she have to lose? Besides her reputation and her boyfriend.

Or she could just refuse. But then, S would tell everyone her big secret. She might as well just kiss Gingka and keep S happy for now.

After a sleepless night and hours of debating what to do, Madoka had made up her mind. She would kiss Gingka.

Either way, her love life would be destroyed. She could at least keep it a little longer by giving in to S's demands.

Madoka wasted no time finding Gingka once she got to school. She dragged him into an empty classroom when she thought nobody was looking.

"Madoka, what are-mmphk," Gingka's question was interrupted by Madoka kissing him.

When it was over, Gingka looked at her, confused and upset.

"What was that for, Madoka? You're dating Tsubasa! I didn't think you were like this!" Gingka said. He started to leave the classroom when Madoka grabbed him.

"Wait! Please don't tell him!" Madoka pleaded.

"Why? I think my friend deserves to know about this," Gingka replied angrily.

"I'm sorry, I can't explain- please don't tell him, Gingka! I'm begging you!"

"Whatever, Madoka," Gingka left her alone in the classroom.

Madoka's phone buzzed. She hadn't realized she was crying until a tear fell on her phone. She wiped it off and opened the message.

**OooO! That went better than expected! And guess who got a picture!**

**~S**

Beneath the text was the picture of her kissing Gingka.

Madoka threw her phone across the room. To her dismay, it didn't even crack, much less break.

Madoka wiped the remainder of tears of her eyes. She didn't know why she was feeling like this. Guilt and something else...

Kissing Kyoya hadn't sparked this kind of emotion. But kissing Gingka had. When she kissed Gingka, Madoka had felt amazing. She hadn't felt that way with Tsubasa in over a month. Tsubasa was a great boyfriend. However, Madoka realized, he wasn't who she really wanted.

Longing. That was what she was feeling. She liked Gingka. As soon as the kiss had ended, Madoka realized she could never had Gingka. She had disgusted him by cheating on Tsubasa with him.

Madoka's cloudy future had evolved into a storm she was trapped in with no clear way out.

As she left the classroom and wandered through the hallways to her first class, Madoka did a double take. She had seen someone she had never expected to see again. Madoka checked a third time to make sure she wasn't seeing things. She wasn't.

Zeo Abyss. What was he doing back at school?

* * *

The next day at school, Mei Mei set off in search of Dashan.

"I have to tell you something," Mei Mei said breathlessly once she found him. Her heart was beating quickly in anticipation of what she was about to do.

"Wha-?" Dashan asked. Mei Mei dragged him away from his friends. Chao Xin eyed them curiously.

Once she was sure nobody was around and able to hear, Mei Mei started to explain about S. She left out the fact that the others were involved. They would kill her if they found out.

"Somebody's been threatening you?" Dashan said disbelievingly.

"I know it sounds crazy, but here," Mei Mei handed Dashan her phone, showing him the messages that didn't involve her shoplifting secret.

"This person is sick. Pretending to Selen? She's dead," Dashan gave Mei Mei back her phone, disgusted.

"Not necessarily," Mei Mei correctly quietly.

"What?"

"A few days ago, I got called out of class with other girls who had been Selen's friends. The police reexamined the body originally thought to be Selen's. It wasn't hers."

"You're kidding."

"No. Selen could still be out there somewhere. Or maybe she is dead."

"Is anybody else getting messages like this?"

"Not that I know of," Mei Mei lied.

"Mei Mei, you have to tell somebody about this."

"I told you."

"No, I mean someone like the police."

"I can't."

"Why?"

"It's- it's a long story. S knows some information about me. If I say anything, everybody will know."

"You still need to tell somebody about it," Dashan urged. "If you want, I'll go to the police station with you after school."

"I'll think about it, okay? Just give me some time to think," Mei Mei said, annoyed. Why couldn't Dashan let it go? The others were right. She shouldn't have told anyone. Things were more complicated now.

"Seriously. If you don't tell anyone who can do something, things will just escalate, trust me," Dashan said.

"You know what? I'm not going. I'll figure this out on my own. Forget I told you anything," Mei Mei stalked off.

"Mei Mei, wait! Whatever your secret is, it can't be that bad!" Dashan called after her.

Mei Mei gave no acknowledgement that she had heard what he said.

For the rest of the day, Mei Mei couldn't help but feel as if someone was watching her. Ever since S had come into her life, she had felt that way constantly. She usually tried to just shrug it off as paranoia. Today it felt different, though. Stronger. Like someone was actually there instead of just a slight unwelcome presence.

Mei Mei walked out of school once it was over, anxious to get home quickly. She saw Dashan looking at her, but ignored him. She never should have told him.

A faintly sweet smell filtered through the area. She heard a soft sound behind her. Footsteps? She sped up.

The noise got louder and louder, confirming her suspicion that it was footsteps. Someone was following her. They were close, judging by the sound of the footsteps.

Mei Mei broke out into a run. The sweet smell assaulted her nose.

Why was she running? It was probably just Dashan, trying to convince her to go to the police.

But wouldn't Dashan have called out her name or tried some other way to get her attention?

Her phone went off. She checked it quickly.

**I did warn you.**

**~S**

Mei Mei ran faster, into the woods behind the school. Wind whipped around her wildly as she stumbled through the forest. The footsteps echoed loudly.

Suddenly, Mei Mei tripped over a large tree root on the ground. She struggled to get up. The shadow of the figure chasing her loomed over her. Mei Mei turned around and screamed upon seeing the identity of her pursuer.

All went black.

* * *

Sophie was working at Masquerade as usual when she received a call from Madoka. Mei Mei had been hurt and was at the hospital. According to Madoka, Dashan had found Mei Mei unconscious near the school parking lot. She had bruises all over her body and hadn't woken up since. Sophie responded saying she'd be be there as soon as possible.

Her shift was two hours from being over, but Sophie managed to persuade her boss to let her leave early by explaining that her friend was in the hospital. Sophie changed out of her disguise and drove over to the hospital. It took her awhile as there was a considerable amount of traffic for some reason, but she eventually managed to reach her destination.

Hikaru and Madoka were already there, waiting for her. Neither of them had seen Mei Mei yet, but they looked grim. A nurse led them into the room where Mei Mei was being treated.

Mei Mei was in worse shape than Sophie had originally anticipated. She was covered in bruises, but there were also scrapes oh her. A bandage covered up a large gash running down her arm. She wasn't moving, but she was still breathing.

"The doctors think somebody knocked her out with some sort of chemical or something. She should be fine in a few days, though," Madoka explained.

"Why would someone do that?" Sophie asked.

"I want to know who did that," Hikaru folded her arms. "I have no doubt S had something to do with it."

"Yeah," Madoka agreed. "Remember the picture Mei Mei found earlier this week? The one with the numbers. She was marked with a 2. Second to go."

"Great. I was three. I'm up next," Hikaru muttered.

"But why attack her now? She hasn't done anything. It doesn't make sense. Unless...," Sophie trailed off.

Just then, a strong wind came into the room from the open window. With it came a piece of paper. Hikaru picked it up and showed it to the others. The paper confirmed what Sophie had been thinking. Two words written in bold with a bright green pen spelled out the reason why Mei Mei had entered this condition.

_She told._

The girls looked over at Mei Mei's unmoving form. The gash on her arm had randomly started bleeding again, coming through the bandage. The oozing blood formed curves until the shape of the gash was known, resembling a certain letter the girls were very familiar with.

S.


	7. Chapter 7

**Thanks for all the reviews! I've been so busy this week that this is the first time I've been able to work on this chapter. I thought it would only take me an hour and a half to write but it's been over five hours. O.o Now I have to go spend another five hours doing homework. Enjoy the chapter!**

**I do not own Metal Fight Beyblade or Pretty Little Liars. **

* * *

Madoka had had her heart basically ripped out and Mei Mei had gotten hurt. What else could go wrong?

Regardless, Madoka knew she had to break up with Tsubasa. With her new revelation and the messages she kept getting from S, there was no point in staying with him.

S would just keep making her kiss every guy in the school so she needed to break up with him. The guilt from repeatedly cheating on him was tearing her apart. She didn't even like Tsubasa as much as she had before. She was going to end the relationship before anything else could go wrong.

Madoka sent out a text for Tsubasa to meet her at the park. She received an ok from him and another text message.

**Don't do this.**

**~S**

Fingers shaking, Madoka sent a text back to S.

**I will do what I want to with my life.**

The response came back instantly.

**Then you will regret it.**

**~S**

A week ago, the threat may not have bothered her as much, but with Mei Mei's hospitalization, Madoka was nervous. But still, she had to do what she had to do. Right now, that was breaking up with Tsubasa. If she broke up with Tsubasa, there was nothing S could do to her. She'd have outsmarted S.

On her way to the park, Madoka ran into Gingka. He had been avoiding her ever since the kiss incident, but now he marched right up to her.

"I haven't told him what you did yet," Gingka told her.

"I'm sorry," Madoka said truthfully.

"Whatever. Stay away from Tsubasa, okay? I don't want to see him to get hurt," Gingka said.

"I'm going to break up with him right now."

A surprised look crossed Gingka's face. "Really?"

"Yes. You're actually making me kind of late."

"Oh. Well, you go do that then," Gingka turned around and started to walk away. A strong wind came and sent a piece of paper flying into his hands.

He looked at it, disbelieving and turned around. "Is this how you get your kicks or something?" Gingka asked angrily.

"Wha-?" Madoka gasped. Gingka was holding the picture of her kissing Kyoya.

"I can- I can explain!" Madoka said, trembling.

"Save it. Just go break up with Tsubasa so I can forget about this, " Gingka stormed off.

Great. That was just what she needed. Gingka was right, though. She needed to break up with Tsubasa.

It didn't take too long to find Tsubasa. He was standing underneath a tree, waiting for Madoka.

"Hi," Madoka said.

"Hello," Tsubasa said. Madoka thought he sounded vaguely off.

"So, um, we need to talk," Madoka said nervously.

"Yeah, we do."

"What?" Madoka asked, confused.

"What's up with these?" Tsubasa thrust two pictures at Madoka. One was of her with Gingka, the other was of her with Kyoya.

"I- Where did you get those?" Madoka asked.

"Does it matter? I was on my way here when a girl with pink hair, I think it was Lera, gave me an envelope with these inside."

"Wait, Lera? Didn't she move?"

"She's back now. That doesn't matter. It's over, Madoka. I don't know how long you've been kissing other guys behind my back and honestly, I don't care," Tsubasa handed Madoka the pictures and left her alone.

Madoka was in shock. Not because Tsubasa had broken up with her, though. She actually felt...fine. She wasn't feeling anything at all.

What was Lera doing back? Madoka remembered Selen torturing her mercilessly with everyone's help. How had she gotten those pictures?

Maybe she had just been given then to take to Tsubasa and there was no connection. Or maybe...

Lera was S.

It made sense. Lera had a motivation to ruin their lives the same way they had ruined hers. Lera had just moved back and S had just shown up. It was possible.

Madoka went home and checked her email. She had one new message from Sophie. It was a forwarded message. The message had gone out to half the school, apparently.

The email contained the two pictures of her kissing Gingka and Kyoya. Beneath was a caption blaring the words "Guess which slut just got dumped?".

Madoka closed her email. Just what she needed. She had deliberately gone to break up with Tsubasa after S told her not to and S still managed to come out ahead. So much for trying to outsmart S.

Her phone vibrated. There was a text from an unknown number.

**You play by MY rules or face the consequences. And you, unfortunately, are now going to face the consequences.**

**~S**

* * *

Sophie had been incredibly surprised when she received the email with the two pictures of Madoka. It took her a few minutes, but she realized that S must have had something to do with it. The email contained no sender address, which confirmed her theory.

Sophie couldn't help but wonder what Madoka had done to make S send out those pictures to half the school.

S really wasn't someone to mess with. Sophie had tried to brush off that idea ever since S had shown up. She couldn't ignore it any longer, though. S did know their secrets and wasn't afraid to tell the world.

S knew Sophie's secret and actually had some proof. It wasn't the best proof, but it was still proof.

So how was she going to stop S?

There had to be a way. From experience, Sophie knew everything had a weakness. She just needed to figure out S's weakness and exploit it.

Of course, that could be hard. She didn't know who S was. But there were some possible candidates.

Jack and Zeo, who had apparently also just returned to town. Sophie was going to have to keep a close eye on them. Maybe one of them would slip up and reveal some sort of clue involving S.

First, she would investigate Jack.

It didn't take too long to find Jack. He was at the park. He didn't stay there long, though.

Sophie followed him to a strange store. It was filled with strange paintings and art everywhere. Jack picked up a package and walked out of the store with it. Then, Jack started off down another road. He then dropped off the package at another store.

Sophie was about to leave and forget about it, when Jack turned into the woods. So far, the investigation had been a monumental waste of time. Since Jack was going in the woods though, it might be going somewhere. She decided to continue following him for a little while longer.

Sophie didn't recognize her surroundings at all until she reached Jack's destination. A cemetery. The route Jack had taken was a more direct, although more tree-filled, way to the local cemetery. Sophie remained in the woods, hidden by a tree. She looked to see what Jack was doing.

Jack walked over to one of the gravestones. Sophie recognized it as Selen's. She and the other girls had been there on many occasions during the first year since Selen's disappearance and supposed death. No body was in that grave now, though. The body had been exhumed and it wasn't Selen's...

Jack started talking. Sophie couldn't hear him. She moved closer and obstructed herself from view by hiding herself behind a grave.

"...I'll avenge you," Jack said. He produced a rose out of nowhere and placed it on Selen's grave. Then, he walked back through the woods.

Sophie ran over to Selen's grave once Jack was out of sight. The only thing there was a rose, nothing more.

Avenge her? What did Jack mean? Was he S? But, Jack seemed to think Selen was still dead. Most people would, as the secret about the body that had been in the grave not being hers hadn't been released to the public. But S knew that the body hadn't been Selen's. So did that mean Jack couldn't be S?

A noise behind her startled Sophie. She turned around and saw Zeo coming through the woods. Sophie ran and hid herself behind a tombstone again.

Zeo came up to Selen's grave and stared at it for a few minutes. After, he left.

"Weird," Sophie breathed.

She checked the time on her phone. 5:00. She still had a few hours before work. Sophie decided to visit Mei Mei at the hospital to see if she was doing any better.

* * *

It was time to check out the warehouses.

Hikaru drove out to the outskirts of town where the warehouses were located.

There were nine warehouses total in rows of three. They had all belonged to the same company that had gone under over 15 years ago.

She found the one that the girls had hidden in so many years before. It was the first one past Zeo's former house. Hikaru searched it thoroughly, but found nothing. The next two were also empty. Hikaru moved toward the second row.

In the remaining 6 warehouses, there was a lot of scrap metal, but nothing more. Hikaru was about to give up, when she saw something beyond the warehouses. It looked like an old house. Trees concealed it from sight unless it was being directly looked at.

Hikaru wandered toward the house. It was a tall, three story house with a tower on the right side. There was peeling green paint everywhere. The house had broken shutters and the window screens were torn up.

Hikaru climbed up the stairs onto the porch and knocked on the door. It opened by itself. Hikaru peered inside.

"Hello?" she called.

No one answered.

Hikaru took a tentative step inside. The door slammed shut behind her.

Hikaru whirled around, and attempted to open it. Locked. There was no going back now.

Hikaru turned around again and screamed. There was a large marble bust of a person's head she didn't recognize. How had she not seen that before?

Shaking, Hikaru continued through the house. The floor creaked and there was a layer of dust everywhere. Old furniture was covered with sheets. Broken glass was littered over the ground near a window. The house had probably been long forgotten years ago.

After searching the first floor, Hikaru climbed up the second floor. Neither that or the third floor held any clues. Hikaru was about to go downstairs when she heard a noise.

_Thump._

Hikaru's heart started beating faster.

_Thump. Thump._

Footsteps.

Someone was in the house with her.

There was a wooden door on her right. Hikaru ran over to it. It was locked, but Hikaru was able to pick it with a hairpin. She ran though the door and closed it tightly behind her.

The room was circular. Hikaru realized she was in the tower. Near her, there was a wooden ladder. Hikaru climbed down it.

Being old and rotted, the ladder collapsed beneath her. Hikaru went flying down and crashed on something hard. She heard a sickening crunch beneath her.

Hikaru stood up and brushed herself off. She looked at what she had fallen on top of and screamed.

A skeleton.

Hikaru stumbled back to the wall. The bones looked entirely real. The broken rib cage she had crushed due to her fall confirmed it wasn't plastic. Plastic didn't break into tiny pieces the way the bone had. Plastic didn't make the same crunching noise. The skeleton was real.

Hikaru screamed again. The skeleton was too big to belong to a young child and too small to belong to an adult. It likely belonged to a teenager around 13 or 14 and something told Hikaru it was a girl's skeleton.

There was a small door next to her. Hikaru opened it and crawled through. She found herself in the main part of the house again on the first floor, near the entrance. Hikaru ran over to the door. It was still locked.

_Thump. Thump._

Hikaru's eyes widened. In her discovery of the body, she had forgotten about the other person in the house. Judging by the noise, the person was in the next room over.

Hikaru ran up the stairs. She ran up to the third floor.

_Thump. Thump._

The footsteps were getting closer. Whoever was there, they were coming up the stairs.

Crap. Had the person found her? She shouldn't have made so much noise running up the stairs.

Hikaru ran over to an open window. The screen was missing. She looked out of it. Could she make the jump?

Hikaru pushed the curtains aside. She had no choice. It was jump, or meet the other person. And Hikaru could tell the other person was not someone she wanted to meet.

_Klink._

Hikaru looked at the floor. A gold necklace of sorts had fallen out of the curtains.

The necklace had a long, thin chain with a large heart pendant attached. It looked vaguely familiar. Hikaru put it on. She looked out the window and prepared to jump.

At least, she tried to prepare. She felt a cold hand on her back. It pushed her, and Hikaru went flying. She screamed and grabbed on to a windowsill from the second floor. From above, she could see a flash of dark hair as whoever had pushed her walked away from the third floor window she had fallen from.

Hikaru dangled from the wibdowsill for a few minutes. The wood on the windowsill Hikaru was holding on to started to give. She heard a crack, and was falling again.

Hikaru crashed to the ground. She stood up. Her body hurt, but amazingly, nothing was broken.

Hikaru took one last look at the house and ran back toward the warehouses. She didn't know if the person who pushed her was still inside and didn't want to stick around to find out.

Her phone rang. It was just a call from Sophie. Mei Mei had woken up.

Briefly forgetting her near death experience, Hikaru jumped in her car and drove over to the hospital. Sophie was already there and Madoka showed up a few minutes after Hikaru.

The nurse brought them into the room. Mei Mei looked pale, but much better than she had the last time the girls had seen her.

"How are you?" Hikaru asked.

"Good," Mei Mei answered, her voice shaking a little. "I should be able to leave here by tomorrow or the day after."

"That's good," Sophie commented.

"Who attacked you?" Madoka asked.

Mei Mei's eyes widened in fear.

"Selen!" she gasped in ragged breaths. "It was Selen!"


	8. Chapter 8

**Thank you Song of Hope, Lover, dreamlily, A. B. D. Y. Z., madokahagane123, Lavender Rose of Faith, and Animegirl00150 for your reviews!**

******I don't know if you guys have heard, but there was a school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut and it's awful. I've seen so many sad things about it on Facebook. It ticks me off so much that people do things like this. It's the holiday season, too. Completely unnecessary. **

**Anyway, because of that I had a hard time staying focused long enough to write this chapter. I hope you enjoy it. **

**I do not own Metal Fight Beyblade or Pretty Little Liars.**

* * *

The girls were all taken aback.

"What do you mean 'it was Selen'?" Sophie was the first to respond.

"Selen attacked me," Mei Mei spoke clearly.

"Are you sure?" Madoka asked.

"I think so. I didn't really get a chance to look closely at my attacker, but from what I remember, they looked like Selen."

"I don't know...," Hikaru said skeptically. "Maybe you just convinced yourself it was Selen. Your subconscious can do funny things. You could have had a dream where Selen attacked you while you were knocked out and that distorted your sense of what really happened."

"No," Mei Mei said insistently. "It was definitely Selen."

"Still," Sophie said, "I don't think we can pin this on her yet. Sorry, Mei Mei, but Hikaru might be right."

"Then who else could have been?" Mei Mei asked defiantly.

"Jack."

"Zeo."

"Lera."

The four girls all looked at each other.

"Okay, what happened while I was asleep?" Mei Mei asked.

"I want to know when Lera got involved with this," Sophie looked at Madoka curiously.

"I was going to break up with Tsubasa, but that kind of backfired when apparently he had received the pictures of me kissing Kyoya and Gingka," Madoka looked down. "I'm sure you've all seen them by now."

The girls nodded silently. Mei Mei, however, seemed more confused and muttered something about how she missed everything by being in the hospital.

"S made me do it," Madoka explained to Mei Mei. "Anyway, when I asked Tsubasa how he got them, he said Lera gave them to him in an envelope."

"I thought she moved," Hikaru commented.

"Well apparently she's back. Anyway, I was thinking, how would she get those pictures? Then it occurred to me. Lera could be S. After all, we made her life hell when she lived here."

"It does make sense," Sophie mused. "She just came back and she has a reason for revenge."

"We'll just have to keep an eye on her," Hikaru decided. "What makes you think Zeo is S?"

"Pretty much the same reason Madoka suspects Lera. He just returned to town and has a reason for revenge. That, and earlier I was investigating Jack. I followed him to the cemetery and right after he left, Zeo showed up. He just stared at her grave and left," Sophie shuddered. "It was creepy."

"That is," Hikaru agreed. "I still think S could be Jack, though."

"I'm not so sure about him anymore," Sophie shook her head.

"Why?"

"When I followed him to the cemetery, he was at Selen's grave and he said 'I'll avenge you' and left-" Mei Mei interrupted her with a shriek.

"'I'll avenge you'!? That sounds like a threat!"

"I know, but it made me think. The way Jack was talking, I don't think he knows Selen may not be dead. S knows Selen is dead, right?"

"Yeah...I suppose you're right," Hikaru said. "I still don't think we should cross him off the list yet, though."

"Neither do I," Sophie agreed. "I just think we should be more focused on the others at this point."

"Right," Madoka nodded. "Especially Lera with her sudden return."

"I still think Selen is a suspect," Mei Mei added. "Face it, she may not be dead. She could be the one behind all of this."

The others were silent, thinking about what Mei Mei had just said. As much as they didn't want to believe her, they had to admit, she had a point.

"Hey, Hikaru, where did you get that locket?" Sophie asked sharply.

Hikaru looked at the heart shaped golden locket around her neck. She had completely forgotten it.

"Oh yeah, you guys won't believe what happened to me earlier today," Hikaru tried to sound casual, but the memories of what had happened came rushing back and made her feel dizzy. She sat down.

"Well what happened?" Mei Mei asked.

"I had received a text from S about Selen and it led to those warehouses near where Zeo used to live. Behind them, there was a creepy old house so I decided to investigate it."

"I don't like where this is going," Madoka said quietly to no one in particular.

"I looked around inside, but couldn't find anything helpful. Then, I heard footsteps. It was really creepy, so I ran through a door into the tower of the house. There were some stairs and I climbed down them, but they broke... And I landed on a body."

The others gasped in unison.

"Whose body?" Sophie whispered.

"It wasn't Selen's."

Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"Actually, it was a skeleton, but it was too small to have been Selen's. Anyway, after that encounter, I got back in the main part of the house and whoever was in the house with me was only a room away so I ran up the stairs.

"I planned to jump out the window, but before I could, I found this locket. For some reason, it looked familiar to me so I took it. Just as I was about to escape out the window, I felt a hand on my back and someone pushed me.

"As I was falling, I managed to grab the windowsill of the second floor. Then, that broke. I crashed, but luckily I didn't break anything. Then I ran like crazy and came over here," Hikaru finished.

The others looked at her with shock.

"You're lucky you're still alive!" Madoka stared wide-eyed.

"That HAD to be S who pushed you," Mei Mei commented.

Hikaru nodded. "S was the one that led me over that way in search of Selen."

"Hikaru, what time do you think this happened?" Sophie asked.

"Um..Around five, maybe?" Hikaru shrugged.

Sophie's shoulders slumped. "Then I have no clue who S is. Right before I came here, I was following Jack to the cemetery. After he left, Zeo showed up. That all took place around 4:50. The warehouses are across town from the cemetery. Even with a car, which neither of them were using, it would have taken a while to get there. Neither of them could have been the one who pushed you."

"Then that leaves Lera," Madoka realized.

"Is there anything you remember about the person who pushed you? Mei Mei asked.

"Not really. They pushed me from behind. I never got a chance to get a good view of them," Hikaru replied. "Although, when I was hanging from the windowsill, I saw a flash of dark hair."

"Lera's hair is pink," Sophie pointed out. "Unless she's colored it, that may not have been her."

"Well maybe I'm right, and it was Selen who attacked me," Mei Mei commented. "And now she's gone after Hikaru as well. She could be the one behind all of this."

"I still don't think that it's Selen," Sophie muttered. "Even if it's the only option that vaguely makes sense."

"Just because you're convinced she's dead-" Mei Mei was cut off by Hikaru, who was attempting to avoid another argument about the identity of S.

"You were asking about the necklace, Sophie?"

"Yeah. It's the same as the one Selen always wore," Sophie responded.

Madoka gasped. "It is! I'd forgotten all about that!"

"I thought it looked familiar," Hikaru said, "That's why I took it with me."

"We know one thing, then. Selen has been in that house," Sophie concluded.

"After she disappeared, too. I remember her wearing it the night she vanished," Madoka added.

"Selen loved that locket...," Mei Mei froze. "She wouldn't have left it behind."

"Then how did it end up separated from her?" Hikaru asked.

"Something's wrong here. I think the necklace has something to do with it. Was the necklace hidden or anything when you found it?" Sophie asked.

"Kind of. It was in some curtains by the window I fell out of," Hikaru answered.

"Close enough. It was in an abandoned house. Nobody was supposed to find it," Sophie said. "The question is, why?"

Everyone was silent. There were too many questions. They needed to start finding answers.


	9. Chapter 9

**Merry Christmas everyone! Thank you for your reviews, Song of Hope, NyanKisa44, A.B.D.Y.Z, dreamlily, and Lavender Rose of Faith! I'll probably have another somewhat early update seeing as its vacation time. **

**Sophie's not really in this chapter... Kind of ironic seeing as I had a dream where I accidentally killed her the other day... Yeah, that was weird. So do you guys like character deaths? I'm guessing not...**

**I do not own Metal Fight Beyblade or Pretty Little Liars. **

* * *

It was weird, going back to school after everything had happened. It became quite clear as soon as she got to school that everyone had gotten the email of her that S sent. Everyone kept looking at Madoka. At least, it felt that way to her. Most of the looks were dirty or disgusted, but some were just curious. Madoka walked through the halls and wished she could just disappear.

Tsubasa and his friends were clearly going out of their way to avoid Madoka. Whenever she saw one of them, they would look away or walk away in a different direction. Especially Gingka. He seemed to have the most hatred for Madoka, even more than Tsubasa, who ignored her for the most part. Madoka mentally kicked herself for falling for Gingka. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

Her love life wasn't that important right now, though. S had gone after both Mei Mei and Hikaru now. If that picture they had found earlier was anything to go by, Madoka was next.

Then again, S had just ruined her social life by depicting her as a slut. Maybe S was done with her.

Yeah, right. Like she could get that lucky.

Madoka thought for a minute. The only way to fix everything was to stop S. Outsmarting S was out of the question, unfortunately. Madoka had tried that already, and failed dismally. And like S said, she was facing the consequences. Still, there had to be something they could do.

They had narrowed down the list of suspects. Now they just had to figure out who S was. That would help.

Zeo, Jack, Lera, and Selen. Did any of them really hate the girls that much that they were willing to torture them, and probably kill them eventually?

Madoka doubted S was Selen. Mei Mei may have been convinced, but to Madoka, there really was no proof. Even if Selen was still alive, Madoka was completely lost on what to think when it came to this concept, why would she have come back simply to torment her old friends? Selen may have been obnoxious and manipulative, but to go after the girls like this? She'd have to be crazy.

Although, Selen had been gone for a few years, maybe even kidnapped. A lot could have happened.

Which brought Madoka to her next point. Selen's locket. Hikaru had found it stashed in some curtains in an old abandoned house. That obviously had to mean something.

Selen had always worn the locket. Always. While she was sleeping, during gym class (even when the teacher had repeatedly told her to take it off), when swimming... She was never separate from it.

The locket was even part of what had caused Selen's irrational hatred of Lera. Most people had just assumed Selen disliked Lera for no apparent reason. That was the case with most people Selen didn't like. However, Selen actually had a reason for not liking Lera. Not necessarily a good reason, but still a reason just the same.

The first day of seventh grade, Selen had come to school flaunting the locket as usual. Lera was the new girl. She fit in easily enough with other students, but she was too new to know much about Selen and her rule as queen of the middle school. Lera had noticed Selen's locket immediately, and seemed intrigued by it. She asked Selen about it, and Selen said the usual "It's solid gold, they don't sell it anywhere..." while showing it off to everyone. Lera had asked a few more questions, and Selen had become increasingly uncomfortable. When Lera asked for a closer looked, Selen had flipped out on Lera calling her a freak among other things. She told Lera that a wannabe like her could never have a necklace like hers and then walked away, leaving Lera alone. By the end of the day, Lera knew to steer clear of Selen as much as possible. Of course, that didn't stop Selen from ruthlessly tormenting her.

At the time, Madoka hadn't been a member of Selen's clique. She'd felt bad about why had happened to Lera, but didn't get involved. A few weeks later, she had been enlisted into Selen's elite group of friends. Looking back, Madoka wondered what would have happened if she had stood up for Lera.

If Lera was S, then things would definitely be a lot different now.

The more Madoka thought about, the more likely it seemed that Lera could be Selen. She definitely was going to look into that.

Madoka saw Mei Mei at school, but didn't get a chance to talk to her before she disappeared into the sea of students. Sophie was mysteriously missing, but Madoka did manage to talk to Hikaru. She reminded Hikaru of Lera's connection to Selen's locket.

"Then we definitely have to watch for her," Hikaru frowned. "I also think we should ask her about the locket, even if it puts us at risk if she is S. She obviously knows something about it."

"Okay," Madoka agreed. She opened her locker. Dozens of pieces of paper fell out. Some were of the pictures that as had sent out. Others were just pieces of paper with "slut" and "whore" written on them. Madoka slammed her locker shut angrily and started to pick up the mess.

"That's just obnoxious," Hikaru commented.

"Tell me about it. S has completely screwed up my life," Madoka said dryly. Just then, Gingka walked past. He gave Madoka another look. Not nasty, just a look. Madoka flipped him off.

Hikaru looked at her in shock. "Madoka!"

"I know, I know. S has just- well my day's already ruined and its not even 8 o'clock. I think I have a reason to be ticked off. And Gingka has just been a pain since I cheated on his best friend with him. I can't believe I like him," Madoka mumbled the last part.

"You like him?" Hikaru said, trying to hide a smile.

Madoka started blushing. "No, I don't!" She denied, rather unconvincingly.

"You totally do."

And their conversation continued like that all the way to their first class.

* * *

Mei Mei had been released from the hospital on Sunday night. Unfortunately, she was forced to go back to school the next day.

She was in her first class of the day for less than five minutes when she was called down to the office. Mei Mei frowned, remembering her last trip to the office, when Officer Jazzman had interrogated her and her friends. Her frown deepened when she realized that none of her friends would be going with her.

On her way down to the office, Mei Mei received a text.

**Don't think I'm done with you just yet. You broke the rules and just because you ended up in the hospital, it doesn't mean I'm finished. There's much more to come.**

**~S**

Mei Mei shuddered. Another threatening text. Couldn't she even go a day without them?

Officer Jazzman was waiting for her. She had seen him the other day in the hospital after she had woken up. He had shown up right after her friends had left. Officer Jazzman had grilled her all about the attack, but she hadn't been able to give him much information. She had left out the part about Selen being her attacker. The other girls didn't seem to believe her, so she figured she'd keep it a secret for now.

As she sat down, she realized she had been right. None of her friends were coming into the room. Maybe they were all going to be interviewed separately. Or maybe this conversation would be strictly about her attack. Although, Mei Mei didn't really know what more the detective could be looking for. He had been pretty thorough with his interrogation the other day.

"Do you know why you're here?" Officer Jazzman asked.

"Not really," Mei Mei answered truthfully.

"I didn't think so. Recently we came into possession of some rather interesting photos."

Mei Mei's breath caught in her throat. Her heart started pounding. She suddenly knew exactly what S had been talking about in the text she had received a few moments ago. This couldn't be happening. Not now.

Jazzman produced the photos and showed them to her. Surprisingly, there was only one.

"We have proof of you shoplifting. "

Mei Mei was silent.

"We've already contacted your parents. Your court date is October 12. You may go."

Mei Mei left the room shaking.

Once outside the office, she walked through the hallways for a few minutes before crashing to the ground.

"I'm so screwed," Mei Mei began to tear up. She sat there for a few minutes, crying silently. No one came into the hall, surprisingly. She managed to pull herself together enough to go to the bathroom and wipe her face. Her eyes were still red after.

Mei Mei walked out of the bathroom and right into Chao Xin.

"Hey, Mei- Are you okay?" He asked, noticing her puffy eyes.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I've just messed up big time, that's all," Fresh tears began to fork at the corners of Mei Mei's eyes.

Whatever Chao Xin was about to say was interrupted by a loud scream.

"Did-did that sound like Dashan?" Mei Mei asked, furiously blinking her tears away.

"I think so," Chao Xin responded. "Let's go check it out!"

Chao Xin and Mei Mei raced through the hallways in the general direction of the scream. Another shout directed them to turn left toward one of the school's many exits.

"He must be outside," Mei Mei said. "C'mon, let's go." Chao Xin wasn't moving, so Mei Mei tried to drag him by the arm, but that wasn't working too well.

"Mei Mei... Look," Chao Xin pointed to s spot on the floor. Blood.

Mei Mei gasped and took an involuntary step back. She almost fell, but Chao Xin caught her.

"Dashan's in serious trouble! Look, there's a whole trail of blood!"

The two of them spec out the doors in search of their friend. The blood trail, which became more and more visible as larger pools of blood became present, led them to the edge of the woods. Without a single thought, the two of them went straight into the woods. The blood trail disappeared under the dense foliage.

"Where do we go now?" Mei Mei asked anxiously.

"I don't know, but we'll find him," Chao Xin said determinedly.

"Maybe we should split up," Mei Mei suggested. "That way we can cover more ground and find him more quickly."

"No way. Mei Mei, something, or someone, took Dashan. It's probably still out here. It's too dangerous to split up."

The two of them began their search. They weren't having much luck, but both of them refused to give up until they had found their friend.

"Watch out," a voice whispered.

Mei Mei whirled around. No one was there.

"Hello?" She called.

Chao Xin gave her a puzzled look. "Mei Mei, there's no one else here."

"I thought I heard someone. They said, 'watch out'."

Chao Xin's eyes widened. "Shit. We've got to get out of here. Someone's in here with us. Probably the same person who attacked Dashan. Maybe even the same person who attacked you."

Chao Xin grabbed Mei Mei's arm and dragged her through the woods. The two of them went running. They tore through the woods, the scenery zooming past them in a blur.

"Stop!" Mei Mei yelled suddenly.

Chao Xin stopped and looked at Mei Mei.

Just then, a large crack echoed through the forest.

Five feet in front of them, a tree came crashing down. Mei Mei shrieked and both of jumped back as the tree caught fire. They turned around as another tree fell to the ground and caught fire as well.

They were trapped.

* * *

A large commotion while classes were switching caught Hikaru's attention. She ran outside to see what was going on and immediately wished she hadn't.

There was a large, buzzing crowd in a circle, surrounding something. Hikaru pushed her way through the throng of people.

In the center, there was a person. Whoever it was had been hurt badly. But... Whoever it was, they weren't dead. Although, in their condition, death might have been better.

Upon closer inspection, Hikaru realized it was Dashan, one of Mei Mei's friends. Speaking of, where was Mei Mei?

Dashan was in terrible condition. He was all cut up and blood caked his body. On his arms, it looked as if there were burn marks as well. Bad burns. Fresh wounds opened up. His hair was wild, burnt and decorated with flakes of blood.

"He's dead!" someone yelled.

"No, he's not!" Hikaru yelled back. "Somebody go get a teacher!" Someone raced out of the crowd back toward the school.

Madoka came running over and gasped. "What happened?" She asked, fear in her eyes.

"I don't know!" Hikaru responded.

"Is he-"

"No, he's definitely not dead."

"How do you know? Did someone check his pulse?"

"No, just trust me. He's alive."

A teacher came out with the student who had gone in search of one. The teacher immediately shrieked and called for help. Dashan was hauled away in an ambulance a little while later.

"What do you think happened to him?" Madoka asked.

"I don't know... He's one of Mei Mei's friends, right? Wasn't he with Mei Mei right before she got attacked before?" Hikaru mused.

"Yeah, I think he was... Wait a minute," Madoka said in horror as realization dawned on her. "Oh no... S attacked Mei Mei because she told. She was with Dashan right before she got attacked. You don't think..." Madoka trailed off.

"That Mei Mei told Dashan about S and now S attacked Dashan to keep him from telling anyone?" Hikaru finished her sentence. "Yes, that's exactly what I think."

"Please tell me you haven't told me anyone," Madoka said.

"No, I haven't."

"Okay, I haven't either. And I doubt Sophie has."

"Now we definitely can't tell anyone. If this is what happens, then we have to be quiet. I don't want anyone getting hurt."

"Yeah, hey have you seen Sophie today?"

"No," Hikaru responded, "but I got a text from her earlier. She's at home sick."

"I just wanted to make sure she was okay. Especially with you and Mei Mei both having been targets already. I feel like S will be going after her since she hasn't really been attacked yet."

"We all need to be extra careful now," Hikaru frowned. "Hey, do you smell something weird? Like something's burning?"

The girls turned around and looked at the woods. Off in the distance, they could see smoke rising up into the atmosphere.

"A forest fire?" Hikaru said doubtfully.

"I don't think so," Madoka took out her phone and reported what they had seen.


	10. Chapter 10

**It's almost been a month since I last updated and I'm really sorry. I was really busy and then got sick, which for some reason prevented me from working on this. I also wasn't entirely sure what I was going to do for this chapter which didn't help. Next chapter will definitely be up quicker. **

**Thanks for your reviews, everyone. **

**In a completely unrelated note, my sister had me take some MFB meme. Apparently I'm most like Doji. Anyone have a cactus I can borrow?**

**I do not own Metal Fight Beyblade or Pretty Little Liars. **

* * *

Sophie wasn't actually home sick. Masquerade was undergoing renovations and for some reason, the manager had demanded the staff be present. Not wanting to risk losing her income, she had blown off school. Plus, she figured it would help convince everyone that she was old enough to work there. A few people she worked with had their doubts about her.

When Madoka called Sophie to explain what had happened to Dashan at school, she had dropped her phone. Sophie agreed with the others that S must have had something to do with it. Which meant S was probably getting ready to make a big move.

Especially if they had tossed Dashan in front of the school for everyone to see. That was a warning to them. S was done with just tormenting them with their secrets. S was out for blood.

Which was a thought that pretty much made Sophie sick to her stomach. She was not ready to deal with S coming at them full force. The threatening texts were bad enough.

Soon it was Friday, and the girls had arranged to meet up at their old meeting place where Selen had gone missing to discuss what to do. Mei Mei had texted them earlier in the week, saying she was sick with pneumonia and not to come visit. She would be absent from the meeting.

S had been strangely quiet during the week, much to everyone's relief. Although, if S was planning something, the silence couldn't be good.

When Sophie got to the hangout, Madoka and Hikaru were already there, deep in conversation.

"Did you find out anything about the smoke we saw a few days ago?" Hikaru asked.

"Yeah. Apparently there was a fire. It ravaged the area pretty bad," Madoka frowned. "I wonder how it started."

"No clue," Sophie sat down.

"Weird. Hey, didn't Dashan have some burns on him?" Hikaru asked.

"Now that you say that, I think he did. Maybe he was involved in the fire somehow," Madoka surmised.

"Do you think... Do you think that maybe S started that fire?" Sophie asked in horror.

"It's a possibility. If S did start the fire and then dumped Dashan in the front of the school, then S was probably present when everyone was huddled around him during classes to divert suspicion from themselves. The only person I remember seeing was Zeo."

"Why would they need to divert suspicion from themselves? I mean, nobody expects another student to be the one going after everyone. We're the only ones who do, and that's because of S. Besides, they may also want to be away from the scene so that nobody connects them to it. Depending on when they dumped off his body, they could have been halfway across the school when everyone found him," Hikaru argued.

"Okay, so then any of them could have done it," Sophie concluded. "Anything new?"

"I followed Zeo around, but couldn't find anything incriminating," Hikaru sighed. "I feel like this is the same conversation we have all the time."

"That's because it is," Sophie nodded. "I'm guessing we can't exactly eliminate anyone from the list of suspects."

"No," Madoka confirmed. "Especially since S has been silent lately."

"Then we need to pick someone. The person who we think is most likely to be S, and go from there."

A noise behind them startled the girls. The bushes rustled.

A form started to drag itself out from under the bushes. Definitely human. The person collapsed on the ground, clearly exhausted.

Whoever it was had been through a lot. There were blisters all over their body and their hair was singed. There was also a large gash running down the left should and clothes hung off the body in tatters. A faint burnt smell seemed to linger in the air around them. Despite all this, the person was still alive. In major pain, but alive all the same. Tentatively, the girls took a step forward for a closer inspection. Sophie shrieked and jumped back in recognition.

"Chao Xin!" She gasped, horrified. The other girls seemed to realize who it was as well.

Chao Xin moaned in acknowledgement.

"What happened to you? " Hikaru asked.

"Forget that," Madoka waved her hand dismissively. "We need to get him to a hospital!"

The girls rushed Chao Xin to a hospital. They waited at the hospital until they were able to go in and ask him what had happened. It took a few hours. Sophie hoped that it wasn't going to take too much longer since she had to get to work soon. Eventually, they were allowed to go see Chao Xin.

"Mei Mei," was the first thing he said.

The girls looked each other. "What about her?" Sophie asked.

"Where is she?"

"Home sick," Madoka answered.

"I didn't see her," he mumbled, starting to drift off. "She's okay, then?"

"What do you mean?" Hikaru asked.

"Fire..." Chao Xin chose that moment to fall into a deep slumber.

A nurse came in and shooed the girls out of the room. They exited the hospital and got into Sophie's car.

"What was he talking about?" Madoka murmured.

* * *

"Does it have to be me?" Madoka asked one last time.

"Yes," Hikaru and Sophie said simultaneously.

Time was starting to run out. Madoka had to get information on Lera. The girls, for the most part, believed that she was the most likely candidate to be S. The only way to be sure, though, was by getting close to Lera. For English, the girls had to pair up for a project. For the most part, they all agreed that Madoka would work with Lera since Mei Mei was still absent. Madoka was reluctant toward the idea, but she knew it had to be done.

Later, Madoka made her way to Lera's alone. Nervously, she knocked on the door.

"Hi," Lera said and invited Madoka into the house. "I have to go get my stuff." She left Madoka alone in the room.

Madoka's eyes fell on Lera's discarded phone. Looking around to make sure Lera wasn't back yet, she picked it up and began to look through it. First, she checked out the pictures.

Madoka was in shock. Every picture she had received from S was in the phone. There were also the ones of her friends that S must have tormented them with. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. She looked through Lera's texts as well.

It was all there. Every text she had received, even ones she hadn't gotten yet, they were in the phone. The next texts to be sent all seemed to be focused on revealing the secrets once and for all. Madoka checked the email account as well and found the message that had been sent to the entire school labeling her as a slut.

Lera was S.

Footsteps alerted her to Lera's return. Madoka tossed the phone back on the table where she had found it. She winced as it slid a few feet past where it had been before. Hopefully Lera wouldn't notice.

"Sorry, Lera. I have to go," Madoka inched toward the door.

"Why? You just got here," Lera said.

"It's an emergency. Sorry," Madoka bolted out the door, desperate to get away from the one who had been hell bent on ruining her life.

Lera approached Madoka the next day at school.

"So when are we going to work on this project?" Lera asked, annoyed. "You left before we got to start yesterday."

"Sorry," Madoka apologized. It was hard to stay calm being face to face with S. "How about tonight?"

"I'm busy," Lera told her. "Hey, is Hikaru wearing that necklace Selen always used to wear?"

"Um, yeah," Madoka saw an opportunity and took it. "What's the story with the locket, anyway? You seemed to know something about it before."

"Oh, right. The day I first met Selen and she flipped when I asked about it. It's really similar to a necklace in an old legend. In the legend-"

Lera was cut off by Zeo. "We need to work on the science project," he told her.

"Oh, right. Sorry, Madoka. We'll talk later," Lera left with Zeo.

Madoka ran off toward Sophie and Hikaru. She had a lot to tell them.

* * *

"Lera is S," Madoka ran up to Hikaru and Sophie, panting.

"What?" Hikaru asked at the same time Sophie said, "How do you know?"

"When I went to her house yesterday, I went on her phone while she wasn't in the room. I found everything. All the pictures she sent were on there and the emails we've gotten. It's all there," Madoka said, catching her breath. "Including a few texts waiting to be sent. All of which involve revealing the our secrets."

"Seriously?" Hikaru asked.

"Yes. And I also found out a little bit about Selen's locket. Apparently it has something about to do with a legend. I didn't really get any details. She left with Zeo before explaining. She noticed that you were wearing it, Hikaru. She's obviously interested in it."

"Do you think this whole thing has to do with the locket, then?" Hikaru wondered.

"I doubt it. This whole S business has been going on before you found the locket. There has to be something more. Probably revenge for us making fun of her in middle school. Anyway, now that we know for sure it's her, we need to set a trap," Sophie decided.

"How do we catch her?" Madoka asked.

"We can't just confront her about it. She might send the messages," Hikaru said. "We need to get her phone away from her before we do anything drastic. Otherwise we're all screwed."

"Then we'll figure it out," Sophie said determinedly.

All three of their phones went off.

**You think you're so clever, don't you? You think you've got me. News flash: isn't something missing?**

**~S**

"What does that mean?" Hikaru asked.

"Mei Mei," Madoka whispered.

"What?"

"No time to explain, we need to get to her house!"

When they got there, Mei Mei's parents informed the girls that Mei Mei was not there. Her parents explained that Mei Mei had gone on a field trip with one of the school clubs and would not be back for a few more days.

"That's a lie," Madoka shook her head vehemently. "She's not in any clubs. Besides, she sent us texts saying she was sick. Something's up. We need to get to the hospital."

Hikaru and Sophie looked at each other, not sure where Madoka was going with this.

As soon as they got there, Madoka led them straight to Chao Xin's room. He looked better than when they had found him a few days ago.

"Chao Xin, you have to tell us exactly what happened!" Madoka said. "How did you get like this?"

"I can't remember exactly, but I know that I was with Mei Mei when I heard Dashan yell. The two of us ran out into the woods near the school. We couldn't find him, and suddenly a bunch of trees fell and everything was on fire. Mei Mei and I tried to escape, but everything went black. When I woke up, she was gone. I tried to find her, and ran into you guys," Chao Xin said.

Madoka seemed satisfied. "I thought so."

"What does this mean?" Sophie asked.

"It means that-" Madoka remembered Chao Xin was in the room. "Let's go."

"What?" Chao Xin asked. "You guys are hiding something, I knew it. Mei Mei is, too. She told Dashan, but she didn't tell me. What is it?"

"Nothing to worry about," Sophie assured him and turned toward the door.

"I'm going to find out what it is."

"Good luck with that." The girls left the room.

"We can't let him know. He'll end up like Dashan," Hikaru said once they were outside of the room. "What did you figure out in there, Madoka?"

"Remember that fire? S, or Lera, I guess, had something to do with it. Chao Xin and Mei Mei ended up in the middle of it and no one has seen her since. She definitely disappeared in that fire, which means we have to get over to where the fire started to see if we can find anything," Madoka informed them.

A little while later, they reached their destination. The area was completely ravaged. Charred trees decorated the forest floor. Remainders of burnt grass and leaves littered the ground.

"Start looking," Madoka informed them.

The girls split off in different different directions, but making sure to be in view of each other. Sophie and Madoka were both looking around with no luck.

Hikaru stopped dead in her tracks.

"Madoka? There's a problem with your theory about Lera being S," Hikaru called.

* * *

As she began to stir, the waking girl became aware that she had been sleeping on a cold, hard floor. Where was she?


	11. Chapter 11

**Hi everyone! I'm so sorry this is super late. I've been ridiculously busy and it's my birthday and I have some down time so I figured I'd post this while I had the chance. I have some not so good news though. It it's going to be another long wait for the next chapter. Between school and other things, I don't have time to write anymore. My goal is to at least try and have this done by summer vacation. Not sure if that will work out though. **

**Thanks for all your reviews! I noticed a lot of you seem to be new readers to this story so I'm sorry you had to wait for this. **

**I do not own Metal Fight Beyblade or Pretty Little Liars.**

* * *

Lera was on the ground, unmoving. Cautiously, the girls walked toward her. Her hair was strewn all around her and she did not look good. Blood caked her face.

Madoka knelt down beside her and took Lera's arm. She pressed her fingers to Lera's wrist, searching for a pulse.

"She-she's not breathing," Madoka looked up, her eyes wide with horror.

Sophie gasped while Hikaru muttered, " I could have told you that."

"What do you think happened to her?" Sophie asked, moving closer to Madoka.

"I don't know... Should we try and move her?" Madoka asked.

"Not sure," Hikaru said. "I guess it doesn't hurt to try and figure out what happened to her."

The girls rolled Lera over.

"Wait a sec," Hikaru paused. "I think I found something. Feel the back of her head."

"It's like she was hit with something hard," Madoka commented. "Definitely some sort of blunt-force trauma."

"Her right ankle seems broken, too," Sophie called. "What do you think happened to her?"

"Maybe she just tripped and hit her head or something," Madoka suggested unconvincingly.

"I doubt it. She may have tripped, though. There's a tree root right over there. It's like she was being chased by something...or someone," Hikaru concluded. "Then whatever it was got her."

"But why would someone want to kill Lera?" Sophie asked. "It doesn't make any sense."

The sound of three vibrating phones startled them. It held the answer to the question Sophie had just posed.

**She knew too much.**

**~S**

The girls held their breath.

"S-S is right here," Sophie whispered. They looked around fearfully. "Let's get out of here."

"What about Lera?" Madoka asked.

"It's probably better if-if we just leave her here. We don't want to get caught up in this mess, too," Hikaru decided.

"From the sound of that text, we already are," Sophie said grimly.

A rustling in the bushes behind the girls was heard. They turned around, seeing nothing, but realizing whatever it was was coming closer from the noise it was making. The girls wasted no time running away.

Once the girls were safe in Sophie's car and driven away they began to speak again.

"She knew too much? So somehow Lera was involved with S, but she wasn't S. That's impossible. Dead people can't send texts," Madoka said. "But that still doesn't explain how I found all those pictures and texts on her phone."

"You mean this phone?" Hikaru asked, holding one up. "I found it on the ground near Lera. I've been going through it ever since we got in the car. There's nothing in here about us."

Madoka's eyebrows knitted in confusion. "That's not the phone I found. The one I saw was purple, not pink."

"Maybe she had a second phone?" Sophie suggested.

"Maybe. Or maybe there is more than one S."

"Don't even say that," Hikaru shuddered. "One is bad enough. I don't want to think about more than one person being out to get us."

"Well if Lera was one of them, I guess we don't have to worry about her anymore. I still want to know what exactly was the 'too much' that she knew. It makes sense if she was working with S, but if she wasn't, then what did she know that was enough to get her killed?" Sophie questioned.

"Didn't she know something about Selen's necklace?" Hikaru held it up.

"Yeah, she did. That necklace definitely plays a part in all of this somehow. Maybe S didn't want us to figure out what Lera knew about the necklace. There's a chance that knowing that information could help us figure out who S is," Madoka's eyes widened. "I just remembered!"

"What?" Sophie asked, not taking her eyes of the road.

"When I went to break up with Tsubasa, he had the pictures of me kissing Kyoya and Gingka. He said he had gotten them from Lera, which is what I rest made me think she was S. Now that I think about it, though, she had just gotten back to town. There's a chance she had run into the real S, who had given her the pictures and told her to give them to Tsubasa. I bet she had no clue what they were. And when I started working with her on the project, S probably realized that Lera could mention something about it and who she got the pictures from. Then we'd know who S was. They couldn't take that chance, so they killed her."

"That makes sense," Hikaru nodded. "Lera knew who S was and got killed for it. But does S know whether or not she ever told you?"

"I don't know... If S does suspect she did, then we're all in trouble now. If S thinks we know, then they know it's only a matter of time before we go to the police. I can't believe e were that close to finding out who S was and we missed our chance."

"It's okay," Sophie said. "We're still getting closer to figuring out who they are regardless."

"I wish I knew more about what happened before she died, though," Sophie said.

"She couldn't have died that long ago," Hikaru spoke. "This is going to sound sort of gross, but after a person dies, maggots tend to show up. That's usually 12 hours after death. There weren't really any bugs, so I don't think she's been dead too long, even though the blood on her face was dry."

Sophie looked disgusted. "So she died recently. Any idea who she was with last?"

"Not really- wait a minute. When we were talking earlier, someone came over and interrupted us. Lera left with him," Madoka realized.

"Who was it?"

"Zeo."

* * *

After getting over their initial shock, Hikaru and Sophie looked at Madoka.

"I never thought Zeo could be a killer. I mean, I knew there was a chance that he was S, but, I don't know," Sophie said.

"We still don't know he is S, though," Hikaru said. "It cold just be a scarily suspicious coincidence."

"Right," Madoka said. "After all, we haven't yet been able to eliminate Jack from the suspect list, either."

Once again, their phones all went off together. Dreading what it said, they all opened the message.

**If you want to know the truth, go to the homecoming dance.**

**~S**

"What?" Sophie asked, confused.

"Does this mean the final showdown will be at the dance?" Madoka said anxiously.

"Either way, I guess we're going," Hikaru responded.

Sophie dropped off Madoka at her house and continued on. Madoka went inside and got on her laptop. She had been working on a file containing what they did and didn't know involving S and what was happening. She added in the recent events.

Madoka was looking through the file when something caught her eye. Earlier, she had scanned in the picture Mei Mei had shown her of the five of them with the numbers. Up until now, she had completely forgotten about it. If it was anything to go by, Hikaru would be next. Although, S had already tried to eliminate Hikaru by pushing her out of a window. S had already worked to ruin Madoka's life. Really, the only one who hadn't been a major target of S was Sophie. Madoka made a mental note to warn her.

Madoka looked at all the messages she had received. From what it looked like, there was an equal chance for S to be Jack or Zeo. The only thing that made Madoka lean more toward Zeo was the fact that Lera had last been seen with Zeo by them. But like Hikaru said, there was always the chance it was just a coincidence.

Zeo and Jack were both ex-boyfriends of Selen's. Both of them had their reasons. There was only one glaring problem, though. S knew Selen may not be dead. Zeo and Jack were still under the assumption Selen was dead. Both of them had been to her grave.

Aggravated, Madoka shut off her computer. She wasn't going to find anything new. She'd already been through the file numerous times. At this point, the only way to find out who S was would be to do exactly that. They needed to catch S in the act.

* * *

The night of the homecoming dance arrived and the girls showed up at the venue together.

Sophie was wearing a puffy, sky blue dress with sparkles decorating the bottom half of the dress. The dress had one thick strap crossing over from the right side of the dress to the left. She wore silver heels to match. Her hair was piled up on her head, a few strands drifting down to frame her face.

Madoka entered the building next. Her hair was in its usual style, minus the goggles she was constantly wearing, although it looked a little glossier than usual. She was wearing a white high-low halter dress with seven bands of color going around the middle, each band a different color of the rainbow. On her feet, she wore strappy white gladiators.

Hikaru entered last, her hair also in its usual style. She was in a vibrant red spaghetti-strap dress that was longer on the left than right. The dress had a thick black band with a small red flower on it going around the middle that tied into a bow in the back. Her black flats completed the look.

"Do you see anything strange? " Madoka whispered.

"Not yet," Hikaru answered. "I'll keep my eyes open."

"Well, we can't stand here all night. Let's have a good time! Oh, don't look at me like that, I'll keep a look out,too," Sophie vanished into a throng of people.

"I wish I could be as relaxed as her," Madoka muttered.

Sophie danced her way across the room. She was somewhat surprised that her friends seemed to think she could be that shallow, but she understood when considering the other people she used to hang out with before the arrival of S. What they didn't realize, though, from where she was standing in the middle of the dance floor, she would have a pretty good view of the entire room. If anything weird was going on, there was a pretty good chance she would notice it.

Nothing stood out, yet. Except Hikaru and Madoka who were both in the corner, looking slightly nervous. Sophie hoped they would be able to relax. Things were fine for the first two hours, until one text sent their nerves skyrocketing.

**You're in for a big surprise.**

**~S**

Sophie looked up from her phone to see Zeo staring directly at her. Her eyes widened in fear. She turned away, only to see Jack looking at her as well. Sophie tensed up. Was that a warning? Or something worse?

Sophie escaped the crowd of people and headed over to Madoka and Hikaru.

"S is here," Madoka said immediately. "We need to get out of here." Hikaru nodded in agreement.

"Let's go." The three of them headed toward the exit then Sophie stopped dead in her tracks.

From the corner of her eye, she saw a girl flash past her. She turned in that direction. Madoka and Hikaru moved to see what had Sophie's attention. There was no mistaking that shiny black hair.

It was Selen.

Selen locked eyes with them. A moment later, she was gone.

The girls stood still in shock.

"Was Mei Mei right?" Madoka murmured. "I didn't want to believe her..."

"Then this means she's not dead?" Sophie said.

"She knows that we know, " Hikaru said. "We have to go. She's on to us."

The girls ran out of the building at full speed. Sophie started her car and they drove off.

"She let us see her. She must be ready to end this," Madoka surmised, frightened.

A sleek black car appeared behind them. Quickly, the girls realized they were being followed.

"Faster, faster," Hikaru implored.

"I'll try and lose them," Sophie pressed her foot harder and the pedal and turned down a winding road. She took a few more turns. For a while, they couldn't see the other car. The girls breathed a sigh of relief and Sophie continued on her way.

Suddenly, a car appeared in front of them, blocking their path. It was the same one that had been following them. Sophie swerved in an attempt to avoid hitting it.

The girls screamed as the car went slamming into a tree.


	12. Chapter 12

**Um... Hi. I'm back. It's been a while, but as it is summer I should be able to finish! I haven't logged in since my last update, but I'm ready to finish this! Next chapter should be up relatively quickly. As usual, I apologize for any mistakes. **

**Thank you all for being patient and reviewing. I also want to thank the new people who followed or favorited since my last update, you guys really inspired me to keep going with the story, knowing people were still reading. I couldn't leave it half finished. So thank you, everyone. **

**I don't own Metal Fight Beyblade or Pretty Little Liars. **

* * *

Mei Mei had been in and out of consciousness for the past few days. Finally, though, she was able to stay awake. She became aware of her surroundings clearly or the first time. She was in a large cage- a birdcage?- floating several feet above the ground. She grabbed the bars and tried to move them, but to no avail.

A figure came into view, dragging something.

"You!" Mei Mei gasped.

"Yes, me," the figure said.

Mei Mei looked at the what the person had been dragging and recoiled, horrified.

* * *

Sophie crawled out of the car, shaking. The front end of her car was totaled. That was going to cost a lot to fix. Sophie pushed that thought out of her mind. She inspected herself quickly. Nothing seemed to be broken, or hurt terribly. Luckily, she was fine.

She needed to check on the others, though.

Sophie walked around her car, looking in for her friends. Neither of them was there.

"Hello?" Sophie called. "Hikaru? Madoka?"

No answer. Sophie called out a few more times, louder and louder each time. She looked in the direction that they had been going before the other car had blocked their way. The other car was gone.

A noise alerted Sophie. She ran over to the other side of her car. She could hear soft moaning coming from the woods. Tentatively, Sophie walked toward it.

Hikaru was lying on the ground. Sophie rushed over.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Hikaru said faintly. "I don't think anything's broken, but everything really hurts."

"That's good I guess," Sophie frowned. "Wait, how did you get over here? The car's fifty feet away. There's no way you could have been thrown all the way over here. Or maybe there's a chance, but it doesn't really seem possible..."

"I wasn't thrown," Hikaru said. "Something moved me."

"What?" Sophie asked, confused.

"I know it sounds weird, but I remember blacking out when we hit the tree, then while I was barely conscious I felt someone dragging me. It was so strange," Hikaru said.

"Weird. Have you seen Madoka anywhere?"

"No. Is she missing?" Hikaru struggled to sit up.

"I think so. I've been calling out for the last few minutes, but I only barely heard you."

"Help me get up. We can search the rest of the area."

"Are you sure you can move?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

Sophie and Hikaru looked around, but Madoka was nowhere to be seen. They searched the area and around the car. It was no use. She was gone.

"What happened to the other car?" Hikaru asked.

"By the time I got out of the car, it was gone. I must have blacked out, too," Sophie responded.

"Where could she have gone?" Hikaru asked, lost. "Do you think, maybe, she was taken? I mean, the car is gone and she's gone. But why didn't they take us as well?"

"I don't know. I have a feeling though it was S in that car. I mean, Selen. I can't believe she's back. There's no way...," Sophie trailed off.

"I didn't think she was dead, but I definitely didn't think she was S. I figured she was long gone," Hikaru agreed.

"Are we even sure it was her? There was a lot going on last night. We were all nervous and maybe we saw someone else, but we just thought it was her."

"You could be right. I still think it was her, though. We each got that got that text, then we saw her, and suddenly a car was chasing after us. It makes sense, in a twisted sort of way."

"Yeah. I need to call for help though. There's no way we'll be able to drive back home," Sophie said.

* * *

Later on, Sophie was back at her house, trying to figure out what she was going to do. Madoka was definitely gone, and S had probably taken her. Mei Mei was gone, too. There was no doubt she and Hikaru would be gone soon, too. They had to do something before it was too late. Sophie was still completely against telling the police.

Selen was out there. Sophie had wanted Selen to be dead and gone. Gone forever. When she had disappeared, Sophie had been haunted for months. Now that she was back, Sophie was certain that terror would come back.

What had she ever done to Selen? Sophie couldn't remember anything. She had always done whatever Selen demanded and had been Selen's right hand man. Sophie couldn't see any reason why Selen would after her unless she was upset that Sophie had just forgotten about her and moved on.

Of course, there was that one secret she had been keeping about that night. The secret she never told anyone. The reason why she had been so thoroughly convinced Selen was dead, similar to the way Mei Mei had been so convinced Selen was alive.

There had to be a reason why Selen was doing this. No matter what it took, Sophie was determined to figure out what it was.

A flash outside her window startled her. She walked over toward it. In the distance, she could distinctly see a human figure running away in the opposite direction.

* * *

Sophie arrived at school on Monday, hoping to run into Hikaru. It was time they got to the bottom of this mess. To her dismay, Wales was walking in her direction. Sophie definitely liked Wales, but now was not the time to talk to him. Especially when she could see Hikaru had up just shown up at school.

"Sophie, can I talk to you for a minute? You've been acting really weird lately," Wales commented.

Sophie plastered on a fake smile. She so did not have time for this. "Wales, I have no clue what your talking about. Now, I'm seriously busy, so I'll see you later." Sophie began to walk away.

Wales grabbed her arm, effectively stopping her. "That's just it! Sophie, you never used to act like this. Something's going on."

Sophie looked into his eyes, wishing she could tell him everything. But she couldn't. To do so would only reveal her secret and put him in jeopardy. "Sorry, Wales. I have to go."

She walked away again. Wales ran after her.

"Sophie, you can tell me anything."

Sophie took a deep breath. There was only one way to get him to back off and keep him safe. It would hurt, but it was her only option.

"Wales, leave me alone! This doesn't concern you, so back off! You think you can help me, but you can't, Wales. So just forget about it and get the hell away from me!"

"Sophie..."

"Wales, I just told you to stay away. I don't like you and if I did need help, I certainly wouldn't go to you for it!"

She had drawn a small crowd with her yelling. She really didn't care, though. There were much more important things to deal with than the school's gossip central.

As she walked away, Sophie turned around and saw a stunned Wales looking at her.

Hikaru was waiting for her up ahead.

"What's was that about?" she asked.

"Wales is getting suspicious. He thinks something's up. Which to be fair, he's right, but I couldn't tell him," Sophie explained.

"So you told him off instead."

"It worked, didn't it?"

"I guess you're right. Are you okay with it?"

"I-I have to be," Sophie blinked, surprised Hikaru had picked up her underlying emotions.

Hikaru smiled. "It's not that hard to tell that you like him, Sophie. Especially if you pay attention. It's not that hard to tell he likes you, either."

Sophie looked down. "You think so?"

"Definitely."

"Maybe one day. After all this is over... But I don't know. Especially after what just happened. I'll probably be lucky if he talks to me again," Sophie felt tears beginning to form in the corners of her eyes.

"He'll talk to you again. If anything, all that yelling you just did will make him wonder even more about going on."

"I hope you're right. We need to focus on S, though. It's time to end this."

"Where do you think Mei Mei and Madoka are?"

Sophie thought for a minute. "There aren't any places around here that I would consider a 'good' place to hide them. They wouldn't be in those warehouses you checked out earlier; way too obvious considering you've already been there. So let's keep a lookout for Selen. She's back and I have a feeling she'll show up again soon. Let's make sure we stay one step ahead of her."

"Sounds good to me."

"Keep our ears out for anything concerning Mei Mei and Madoka as well."

* * *

Chao Xin, who was back at school now, walked up to Wales. Chao Xin had seen Wales talking to Sophie and her ending the conversation by storming away.

"Those girls are hiding something," he explained.

Wales didn't exactly feel like talking to Chao Xin after what had happened- he couldn't believe Sophie had acted so out of character. "What do you mean?" he asked dully.

"First, Sophie would never act like that. Second, not that there's anything wrong with this, Sophie's hanging out with her old friends. They stopped talking a few months after Selen disappeared and now they're practically inseparable again. Mei Mei never mentioned them when he was hanging out with me and Dashan. Don't you think that's weird? When I was in the hospital, they were acting really strange. They were hiding something. When I asked about it they stopped talking and left. I haven't seen Mei Mei since we got caught up in that fire and now Madoka's not here, too."

Wales considered what Chao Xin had just explained; it made sense, especially when he thought about the way Sophie had been acting lately. "Alright," he agreed. "They're hiding something."

"Now we've got to figure out what."

"Are you sure it's important? It could just be, girl stuff or something."

"They're in danger. Dashan got beat up and right before Mei Mei and I ran into the fire, Mei Mei kept looking at her phone and was really upset about something that messed up her life. Plus, she got attacked a while ago, remember? Something's going on and it's not good."

"Where should we start?"

"We need to get those girls to talk to us."

"I know where Sophie lives. We can go there after school."

* * *

Hikaru couldn't believe she hadn't thought of this before. Lera had been friends with Aleksei.

Aleksei might know something about the necklace.

She ran through the school, hoping to find him. Finally, after searching the library, computer lab, numerous classrooms, the cafeteria, and even forcing a few guys to look for him in the bathroom, Hikaru found him at his locker.

"I heard you were looking for me," he commented.

"Yeah," Hikaru briefly wondered how fast word traveled in the school, "Listen, can you tell me anything about Selen's necklace, the one she always wore? Lera knew about it, so I figured you might, too."

"Sorry, but I don't really. Lera told me it was a part of an old legend; that was all. She mentioned it had something to do with space and power, I think. She told me about it the year she came to school, but never mentioned it after that."

"Oh." Hikaru's heart sank. So close. "Thanks anyway."

She started to walk away then remembered. "I'm sorry about what happened to Lera. I know you guys were close."

"Huh?"

_Crap_. The police hadn't found Lera yet. Nobody knew she was dead.

Hikaru kept walking as if she hadn't heard him.

* * *

Chao Xin and Wales arrived at Sophie's right after school. Sophie's house was equivalent to a mansion. It was huge. They knocked on the door and waited. A woman with long brown hair opened the door; Wales didn't recognize her.

"Hi, we're looking for Sophie?" he asked.

The woman frowned. "I'm sorry, no one with that name lives here- Oh. I think that was the name of the girl who lived here before me. I just moved in three months ago. She's not here."

Wales's eyebrows knit in confusion. Sophie moved and hadn't told anyone? That was bizarre.

They thanked the woman and left.

* * *

Her house was dark and empty. Hikaru walked inside. Something grabbed her and covered her mouth, preventing her from releasing a scream.


	13. Chapter 13

**Extremeeee overuse of page breaks in this chapter. But I think it was necessary. It's pretty bad when you freak yourself out with what _you_ write. Just a heads up, next chapter probably won't be up as quicklygo apparently extreme writing is what happens after I go swimming. This is the longest chapter in this story, over 1,000 words longer than last chapter. **

**Thanks go to Lavender Rose of Faith, Lyra Heartstrings, PhoenixFeatherXx, and A.B.D.Y.Z. for reviewing!**

**I don't own Metal Fight Beyblade or Pretty Little Liars. **

* * *

Sophie had been waiting in the courtyard for almost 15 minutes. Where was Hikaru? The bell was going to ring any minute. Hikaru was supposed to have been there.

It was time to nail S. Sophie didn't exactly have a plan, but she did have a few ideas swirling around in her mind. She and Hikaru needed to put everything they knew together and go from there.

In the distance, she could see Chao Xin and Wales fast approaching. Since when did those two hang out together? And what did they want with her?

And hadn't she just told Wales off yesterday?

Sophie took off in the other direction.

* * *

"What was that about?" Chao Xin asked as he saw Sophie running off.

"She knows we want to see her," Wales shook his head. "I don't get it. What is she hiding?"

"Whatever it is, it involves all of them. Have you seen Hikaru anywhere?"

"No. Madoka and Mei Mei still aren't here, either, which means talking to Sophie is our only option."

"She sure isn't making this easy for us. I wish Dashan was awake. He probably knows what's going on."

* * *

Hikaru wasn't in history. Where the hell was she? Sophie was getting uneasy. There was really only one reason why she wouldn't be...

Her phone vibrated, the message confirming her fears.

Looks like you're all alone now!

~S

Sophie's insides twisted. _No..._

She was on her own.

* * *

A pile of papers outside a locker caught his attention. Gingka saw someone sifting through them and decided to help. As soon as he headed over, the person looked up and vanished.

Gingka blinked. That was weird.

He began to sort through the papers; according to them the locker was Madoka's. But that hadn't been Madoka at the locker a few minutes ago...

He hadn't seen Madoka in a few days, now that he thought about it. He hoped she was okay after that email that had been sent out to everyone. What she had done was wrong, but he didn't think she deserved to have the whole school know about it. She had been at Homecoming though, so she was probably just sick.

He put the papers back in her locker for her. An envelope fell out of one of the notebooks. He picked it up, and against his better judgement, opened it. The message was scrawled in an elaborate text.

**The school still doesn't know what you did at that party. And I still have every intention of telling. Tell Tsubasa you love him in front of everyone at Homecoming and apologize for being a slut or you'll be joining Mei Mei.**

**~S**

Gingka couldn't believe what he was reading. Whoever S was, they were threatening Madoka with her secrets. This was blackmail. He needed to tell somebody about this.

Did any of her friends know? There was a chance. He hadn't seen Mei Mei lately-the note seemed to suggest that she had been taken or something-but Hikaru and Sophie were still around. Gingka had found it strange the four of them were hanging out again. They hadn't spent time together since-

Wait. S. Selen.

Were all of the girls getting messages like this?

He needed to find out.

Hikaru wasn't in school today. Sophie was his only option. Except, it seemed like it was going to be impossible to get near her. She was all over the place. Whenever he got within 20 feet of her, she sped off in the opposite direction. After a few failed attempts, Gingka realized it wasn't him Sophie was trying to get away from. Wales and Chao Xin seemed intent on talking to her as well. There was a chance they knew about what was going on.

He showed them the note.

Wales looked shaken and Chao Xin visibly paled.

"Someone took Mei Mei?"

"And Madoka, too, by the sound of it," Gingka nodded.

"Let's go find Sophie. Now," Wales said.

* * *

A hand on her shoulder caused her to scream.

This was it. S had her. She had been their last hope, and now all four of them were going down. She shut her eyes.

"Sophie?"

Wait. That wasn't S. She turned around.

Wales. Of course. What were Chao Xin and Gingka doing there, though?

"Hi," she answered warily.

"We know about S."

Sophie could have sworn her heart stopped for a moment. "W-What? What are you talking about?"

"This." Gingka shoved the note he had found in her face. "It was in Madoka's notebook."

Sophie studied it. Had Madoka even found the note? Probably not. There was a chance she would have said something about it to the other girls.

There was a bigger problem now. The three guys all knew. And they were in serious danger. She had to tell them everything, to warn them.

"Alright," she started shakily, "I'll tell you what I know. But we need to get somewhere safe. Or sort of safe, anyway. Really, now that you know, nowhere is safe."

"We can go to my house," Wales suggested, confused by the strange sentences coming from Sophie.

"Perfect."

* * *

"This whole mess started when the four of us received text messages from someone going by S. At first, we just thought it was each other messing around, but then we realized it wasn't. We all considered Selen, but at the time, we thought she was dead, for the most part anyway. All we knew was that whoever this person was, they knew our secrets and weren't afraid to share them," Sophie explained.

"What do you mean by 'thought she was dead'? Selen _is_ dead," Gingka said. "Isn't she?"

"I'll get to that. So after that, we started getting a bunch of pictures and other messages that were seriously incriminating. There were threats, too. Mei Mei found a picture in her room, which meant S had been _in_ her room, that had all of us labelled with numbers in the order we would be taken down.

"Madoka ended up having to kiss a bunch of people to keep her secret safe. That backfired on her, though, because those pictures were used to make her seem like the school slut. I'm not sure why they were sent out, but Madoka had probably done something S wasn't happy about. So she was punished.

"Mei Mei made the biggest mistake, though. We weren't supposed to tell anyone. She told Dashan, and that's why she was initially attacked. Then Dashan was attacked, too, so he couldn't go to the police. He was put in front of the school to warn the rest of us what would happen if we told. That same day, there was a fire we could see in the distance. That's the one you and Mei Mei got caught in, right, Chao Xin?"

Chao Xin nodded. "Yeah. We heard Dashan yell, so we ran after him into the woods. We didn't find him, but Mei Mei heard someone say 'watch out' or something, so we started to run. A few minutes later, trees fell in our path and there was fire everywhere. I don't remember anything after that."

"That was probably when Mei Mei was taken, because when we found you in the woods, we hadn't seen her since that day," Sophie added.

"What happened with Hikaru?" Gingka asked.

"Hikaru got clues as to what happened to Selen that night. She ended up following them, which led to her getting pushed out the window. With me, I've pretty much only gotten pictures, nothing majorly threatening. I'm not entirely sure why the others seemed to be more under fire than me," Sophie told them.

"Maybe S has a special plan for you?" Wales considered.

"I _hope_ not. Seeing what S has already done, a 'special plan' can only end up with me dead," Sophie shuddered. "That reminds me. While all this was going on, the Selen case was brought up again with the police. Selen's body was exhumed. Except, it wasn't Selen's."

There was a sharp intake of breath.

"We tried to figure out who S was. Selen was the clear criminal in Mei Mei's mind, but the rest of us weren't so sure. Then, Jack, Zeo, and Lera all suddenly came back. We figured it was one of them; each of them had a reason to do it. Then Madoka found a bunch of S-related stuff on Lera's phone and we were sure it was her. But," Sophie swallowed, "Lera's dead. We found her body in the woods. We also found her phone, only it wasn't the one Madoka had looked through. S framed Lera then killed her because she knew too much. Tsubasa had gotten the photos of Madoka kissing other guys from Lera, who got them from S. She knew who S was."

The guys were silent. Sophie decided to continue.

"That left Jack and Zeo as our only real options. Until Homecoming. That night... We saw Selen."

"Holy shit," Chao Xin said. The other two just stared at her in shock.

"She's- she's back?" Wales looked directly at Sophie.

"Yeah. She has to be S. Right before we saw her, we got a message saying we were in for a surprise. Then we ran as fast as we could. I drove away, but then a black car was following us. It suddenly cut us off, and we slammed into a tree. When Hikaru and I woke up, Madoka was gone. This morning I got a message from S saying they had taken Hikaru as well."

"It's Selen. It has to be. For some reason, she's mad at you guys and came back for revenge," Wales decided.

"Why, though?" Gingka asked. "What did you guys do to her to make her hate you so much?"

Sophie thought about it. "There were a lot of things we disagreed on," she said slowly, "but I can't think of anything major."

"Maybe she's just pissed you guys forgot about her. Selen always wanted all the attention," Chao Xin commented.

"But badly enough to kill someone?" Sophie replied incredulously.

"I think it is Selen. This whole thing seems overly dramatic, which is definitely Selen's style," Gingka put in.

"It has to be," Sophie agreed. "And she's ready to finish this. She let us see her and is asking us all one by one."

"We won't let her hurt any of you," Wales and the other guys promised.

Sophie's face held a ghost of a smile. "Sorry, but it might but a bit late for that. If I were you, I'd focus on keeping myself safe. Selen undoubtedly knows that you know now, and she'll be coming for you. You'll end up half-dead like Dashan, or actually dead like Lera."

There was silence. Then,

"Maybe we should try to talk to Dashan. He may be out of it, but there's a chance he might know something," Chao Xin suggested.

"It's worth a shot."

* * *

During the ride to the hospital, Sophie couldn't help but wonder if she'd made the right choice telling them. It was hard to trust people these days. Of course, she'd put them them in extreme danger by telling them everything, too. If only they hadn't found that note in the first place.

Things would have been a lot easier. Although, she could probably use their help.

Scratch that. She needed their help. She was Selen's next target. Now at least if she went missing, the guys would definitely notice. There was a chance they could save them.

Unless Selen got to them first.

Sophie shut her eyes. _Don't think about that!_

The group walked into Dashan's hospital room. He looked better than before, but not much.

"He hasn't woken up yet," the nurse informed them, then left.

"He's not gonna be much help then," Gingka frowned.

Sophie walked around the room. A piece of paper on the floor caught her attention. She picked it up and unfolded it.

**So Mei Mei's not the only one who can't keep a secret. Surprise, surprise. But guess what? I can't keep a secret, either. Only you'll luck out, your secret won't spill.**

**Your blood will.**

**~S**

Sophie staggered back into the wall. Selen had been here. Just moments before them.

Wales noticed immediately. "Sophie, what's wrong?"

He saw the note in her hands and took it. His eyes widened. "We're getting out of here."

"Water...fall," Dashan murmured.

Chao Xin and Gingka looked sharply at him. "What was that?" Chao Xin asked.

"We're getting out of here," Wales repeated. He showed the other two the note, grabbed Sophie's hand, and they ran out of the hospital.

* * *

Sophie dangled her feet in Wales's pool. It was dark out, but all of the guys were inside discussing what to do and Sophie really didn't feel like being a part of that. She had enough of that when all the girls were around.

This was getting to be too much. She knew Selen was out to get her, but seeing that note somehow solidified everything. She hoped nothing bad had happened to Mei Mei, Hikaru, and Madoka yet. She really had no clue, though.

She felt something brush against her foot. At first, it was nothing and she ignored it. Then she felt it again.

Fingers wrapped around her ankle.

Sophie screamed louder than she thought was possible. The fingers yanked her down into the water. She thrashed wildly, desperate to stay out of the water. It was no use.

She splashed around, crying out for help. She went under briefly, and water filled her lungs. Sophie managed to break the surface, choking and gasping for air.

Wales, Gingka, and Chao Xin came plowing out of the house. Sophie felt herself being dragged under again, this time with more force. She screamed and tried to get free. Wales grabbed her hands and tried pulling her out of the water. Suddenly, Sophie's ankle was set free. She stopped fighting, and Wales pulled her up easily. She collapsed in his arms.

Gingka and Chao Xin ran the perimeter of the pool, hoping to capture whoever it was when they broke the surface.

They never did.

Aggravated, Chao Xin dived in. He came up a few minutes later.

"Nobody's in here."

Ten minutes later, Sophie found herself wrapped up in a towel sitting with the guys. She was still shaken from her encounter in the pool.

"How did they get away?" Chao Xin questioned. "There was no way they could have gotten out of that pool without us seeing! It was dark, but we still would have seen them getting away!"

"This is really bad," Gingka paled. "We've got to find Madoka and the others before something happens to them!"

"Where are they, though?" Wales asked. "Selen hasn't left any clues to her whereabouts."

"There's nothing in any of the messages, pictures, and we can't track anything back to the actual source," Sophie added weakly from where she was sitting. "Whenever Selen wanted something delivered, she used other people, like Lera." And then killed them for it.

"It's late. We'll figure this all out in the morning," Wales said. "Sophie, you can sleep in my room. The rest of us will stay down here. It's too dangerous for any of us to be on our own."

* * *

"Took you long enough to find me," Selen laughed lightly.

They were in a field. Finally, Selen had shown herself. It was time to end this.

"I hate to tell you this, but you're a bit too late," Selen laughed again. "Follow me!"

Against her better judgment, Sophie complied. Selen led her down a long winding path, filled with trees. Ancient rock structures surrounded them. She followed Selen past where she assumed the fire had been, based on the destroyed plants and other life. Selen took her past their old hangout spot, followed a stream, and finally to an old cave formation. She joined Selen inside.

"It's nice, isn't it?" Selen smiled. "This place I've chosen to stay in, waiting to get back at you bitches for all you've done."

"But we didn't do anything," Sophie heard herself saying.

"Didn't you? Sophie, it's not a matter of what you _did_ do, more or less a matter of what you didn't do."

Sophie was silent.

"I see how it is. I tried to play nice at first, I really did, but you girls made it so hard. I honestly had no choice," Selen smiled. She whispered, "I have to admit, though, Mei Mei was the most fun. Only she took this seriously. Only she realized the danger. Of course, that was her ultimate downfall. She couldn't take it. And she and Dashan had to pay the price because of it. I love games, don't you?"

"You won't get away with this," Sophie said finally.

"Ha!" Selen laughed. "That's what they all say. Then look what happens to them. They become erased, blotted out. Soon nobody remembers them. Just like you and your pretty little friends."

Sophie was silent.

"Maybe I'll go after Wales next," Selen inspected her nails. "You like him, don't you? Don't lie; you've _always_ liked him."

"Leave him out of this," Sophie replied, feeling anger rising within her.

"I see I've struck a nerve," Selen grinned, looking up from her nails. "Lucky for him, I have other matters to attend to right now." Her eyes bore into Sophie's.

Every instinct suddenly told Sophie to run. She opened her mouth to talk to Selen, then stopped. Instead, she listened to her instinct and ran.

"You can't get away!" Selen's laugh echoed throughout the woods.

Suddenly, she saw them. Bodies dangling from trees. First Mei Mei, then Hikaru, and finally Madoka. Their faces beaten, bloody. The rest of them completely destroyed and limp.

Those hadn't been there before!

Sophie kept running, but the images of her friends were now permanently etched in her brain.

Out of nowhere, Selen appeared in front of her. Sophie screamed and tried to backtrack, but tripped over a tree root. Selen walked toward her, laughing all the way. Sophie shut her eyes, preparing for the end.

Sophie bolted upright in bed. Where was she? What was going on?

Slowly, she came to her senses. It had just been a dream. She was safe. She was okay.

Her phone vibrated next to her. Dreading what it would say, Sophie opened it.

**Most people hide secrets in their closets. Look in Wales's attic to see what _he's_ hiding.**

**~S**

_No_, Sophie told herself. _I will not go up there._

As if in response, her phone vibrated.

**You know you want to. Go on, see what secret connection he's hiding with _me_.**

**~S**

She couldn't ignore that.

At least that's what she told herself.

The stairs to the attic were at the end of the hallway. Sophie quietly crept up them. The attic was dark. She searched for a light, but didn't find one. She wandered in the dark for a few minutes, but didn't find anything.

There were a few boxes lying around, and Sophie swore she heard a mouse or two moving around. For the most part, the attic was empty.

This was pointless. Wales wasn't hiding any secrets. Sophie was just getting wrapped up in the suspense and drama. Why would Selen want her to come up-

Oh.

No.

Selen was up here with her.

Sophie screamed as loud as she could, hoping to wake the others.

A hand wrapped around her mouth, silencing her. She turned around, and saw S.

* * *

Wales, Gingka, and Chao Xin ran up the stairs. Sophie wasn't in her room. She wasn't in any of the other rooms, either.

Wales cursed and went up to the attic. He flicked on the light. Sophie wasn't there.


End file.
